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RELIGION   AND   CONSCIENCE 
IN   ANCIENT    EGYPT 


A  HISTORY  OF  EGYPT 

BY 

W.   M.   FLINDERS  PETRIE,  D.C.L., 

Litt.D.,  LL.D.,  Ph.D.,  F.R.S.,  F.B.A., 
Edwards'  Professor  of  Egyptology,  University 
College,  London. 

Fully  Illustrated.       Six  Volumes.      Crown  8vo. 
Each  9s.  net. 

This  history  aims  at  being  a  student's  reference 
book,  which  shall  suffice  for  all  ordinary  purposes, 
while  the  information  is  given  in  such  a  way  that  the 
general  reader  may  readily  grasp  it.  Every  fact  and 
object  has  an  authority  stated  for  it. 

VOL.     i.    FROM  THE  IST  TO  XVlTH  DYNASTY. 

(10s.  6d.  net.)  Ninth  Edition. 

VOL.    n.    THE  XVIlTH  AND  XVIIlTH  DYNASTIES. 

Sixth  Edition, 
VOL.  in.    XIXTH  TO  XXXTH  DYNASTIES. 

Second  Edition. 

VOL.    IV.     EGYPT  UNDERTHEPTOLEMAICDYNASTY. 

J.  P.  MAHAFFY,  Litt.D.  Second  Edition. 
VOL.    v.    EGYPT  UNDER  ROMAN  RULE. 
J.  GRAFTON  MILNE,  M.A. 

Second  Edition. 

VOL.  vi.    EGYPT  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 

STANLEY  LANE-POOLE,  M.A,  Litt.D. 
Second  Edition. 


METHUEN  &  CO.  LTD.,  LONDON 


RELIGION 
AND   CONSCIENCE 

IN    ANCIENT    EGYPT 

LECTURES  DELIVERED   AT    UNIVERSITY 
COLLEGE,   LONDON 


BY 

W.  M.  FLINDERS   PETRIE 

D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  PH.D. 


SECOND    EDITION 


METHUEN    &   CO.    LTD. 

36   ESSEX   STREET  W.C. 

LONDON 


First  Published 
Second  Edition 


January  189S 
1920 


PREFACE 

THESE  lectures,  though  based  on  the  literature  of  the 
Egyptians,  cover  also  some  general  considerations 
which  are  equally  applicable  to  the  Religion  and  Con- 
science of  other  nations.  They  are  intended  as  an 
attempt  to  indicate  lines  of  study,  and  to  observe  what 
actually  is  the  construction  of  human  thought,  as  shown 
in  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  continuous  records. 
It  may  be  said  that  the  relation  of  these  to  certain 
standard  views  in  ethics  and  religion  should  have  been 
treated ;  and  that  some  more  logical  and  systematic 
ideas  are  needed  to  start  from.  But  my  object  was  to 
see  what  really  is,  and  not  to  try  to  fit  that  in  with  any 
theories,  however  highly  supported,  or  any  views, 
however  orthodox.  Treating  the  divagations  of  human 
thought  as  if  they  must  have  been  systematic  and  logical 
has  been  the  bane  of  all  theories  ;  and  many  a  house  of 
cards  has  been  built  to  match  one  single  fact  or  principle 
which  has  been  grasped.  I  do  not  touch  the  larger 
questions  here,  but  only  deal  with  what  we  can  readily 
see  and  prove  ;  and  in  this  place  I  no  more  attempt  to 
inquire  what  lies  behind  the  growth  of  ideas  here  traced 
than  the  biologist  inquires  what  lies  behind  the  compari- 
son and  nature  of  the  structures  which  he  unravels. 


M 


vi  RELIGION   AND   CONSCIENCE 

We  each  try  to  see  what  actually  exists  ;  usually  a  safe 
and  needful  course  before  attempting  to  account  for 
its  results  or  its  causes. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  these  are  mere  sketches, 
intended  to  suggest  a  mode  of  looking  at  the  subject ; 
and  anyone  who  might  expect  from  the  title  to  find  a 
full  account  of  matters  so  vast  and  complex,  will  be 
disarmed  when  he  sees  what  a  mere  note-book  this 
volume  is. 

The  Religion  lectures  are  arranged  as  first  used  ;  but 
the  Conscience  lectures  seemed  better  to  be  here 
rearranged  into  three,  rather  than  two  as  originally 
delivered.  The  final  notes  deal  with  matters  too  lengthy 
for  the  scale  of  the  lectures. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE      -------v 


LECTURE  I 
THE  HISTORICAL  CONDITIONS  OF  RELIGIONS 

^1 .  The  need  of  realizing  other  minds  -            -                      i 

2.  What  is  religion  ?  2 

3.  The  origin  of  intolerance  -         4 

4.  Intolerance  adopted  religion     -  6 

5.  Mixed  religions  of  mixed  races  -                                   7 

6.  Law  of  mixture  of  religions      -  9 

7.  Mixture  in  Egypt  -       n 

LECTURE  II 

THE  POPULAR   RELIGION  OF   EGYPT 

8.  Magic  in  the  tales  -       12 

9.  Nature  of  the  soul,  Ba  and  Ka  -                                  13 

10.  The  tree  spirit  -       16 

1 1 .  The  sacred  animals       -  1 7 

12.  The  Fates  -       18 

13.  The  nature  of  the  gods  -       19 

14.  Objects  of  piety  -       22 

15.  Isis  and  Horus  worship  of  late  times  -                                  23 

vii 


viii  RELIGION  AND  CONSCIENCE 

LECTURE  III 

THE   DISCORDANCES   OF  EGYPTIAN  RELIGION 

PAGE 

1 6.  Earthly  theory  of  the  soul        -            -  -            -26 

17.  Elysian  and  Solar  theories        -            -  -                   27 

1 8.  Mummifying  theory      -             -             -  -             -       28 

19.  Varying  beliefs  about  gods       -            -  -                   29 

20.  Due  to  differences  of  race         -            -  -                   30 

2 1 .  The  Set  and  Horus  discordance            -  -31 

22.  The  superfluity  of  Hathor         -  -       33 

23.  The  discordance  of  Sebek  -       35 

24.  Multiplicity  of  gods  of  one  function     -  36 


LECTURE  IV 
ANALYSIS  OF  THE  EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY 

25.  General  review  of  the  divinities            -  -  40 

26.  Spirits  -  -  41 

27.  Animals            -                         -  -  42 

28.  Local  and  minor  deities            -  -  44 

29.  Groups  of  the  great  gods  -  44 

30.  Animal  gods      -  -  45 

31.  Human  gods     -  46 

32.  Cosmic  gods      -  -  47 

33.  Abstract  gods                -  -  49 

34.  Foreign  gods     -  -  50 

35.  Fluctuations  of  popularity       -  51 

LECTURE  V 
THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 

36.  Material  for  Egyptian  study     -  -  53 

37.  The  inheritance  of  conscience  -  54 

38.  Intuitions  weeded  out  by  utility  -  55 

39.  The  value  of  inherited  intuitions  -  58 

40.  Use  of  a  scale  of  conscience      -  -  59 

41.  Curve  of  frequency  of  varieties  -  61 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

42.  Conscience  money  illustrates  the  law  of  distribution  -      63 

43.  Curves  of  various  types  of  conscience  -  66 

44.  Effect  of  standards  on  the  conscience  -  67 


LECTURE  VI 
THE  INNER  DUTIES 

45.  Classification  of  duties  -       70 

46.  The  early  lists  of  duties  -       70 

(l)    PERSONAL    CHARACTER 

47.  Character  in  action       -  72 

48.  Character  in  reserve      -  -       74 

49.  Avoidance  of  asceticism  -       76 

50.  Summary  of  personal  character  -       78 

(2)    MATERIAL    INTERESTS 

51.  Material  welfare  -       79 

52.  Summary  of  material  character  -       83 

(3)    FAMILY    DUTIES 

53.  Duties  to  women  -       84 

54.  Duties  of  parents  and  children  -       87 


LECTURE  VII 
THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

(4)    RELATIONS    TO    EQUALS 

55.  Honesty  and  truth        -  90 

56.  Kindness  -       91 

57.  Public  affairs    -  -       93 


x  RELIGION  AND  CONSCIENCE 

(5)  RELATIONS  TO  SUPERIORS 

PAGE 

58.  Respect  and  submission  -      95 

59.  In  business        -  -      97 

(6)  RELATIONS    TO    INFERIORS 

60.  Morally  -  -      99 

61.  Materially         ...  .     IOi 

(7)    DUTIES    TO    THE    GODS 

62.  In  respect          -  -     103 

63.  In  propitiation  -     104 

64.  Summary  of  Egyptian  character  -     105 

NOTE  A 
Inherited  Intuitions  -     109 

NOTE  B 
The  Ideal  of  Truth,  Lucian  -     no 

NOTE  C 
Statistics  of  Conscience  Money        -  -in 

NOTE  D 
Nature  of  the  Ka    -  -117 

ABBREVIATIONS 

M.  E.  E.     Maspero,  Etudes  de  Mythologie  et  d'Archtologie  Egyp- 

tienne,  part  ii. 

M.  H.  A.     Maspero,  Histoire  Ancienne,  torn,  i,  1894. 
M.  Dend.     Mariette,  Denderah  texte. 
Rec.  Reciieil  Egyptien  (Maspero) . 


RELIGION  AND  CONSCIENCE 
IN  ANCIENT  EGYPT 

LECTURE  I 

THE  HISTORICAL  CONDITIONS  OF  RELIGIONS 

i.  BEFORE  considering  the  Egyptian  religion,  it 
will  be  desirable  to  look  briefly  at  the  general  laws  which 
belong  to  similar  cases  of  a  mixture  of  religions  and  of 
races,  and  to  observe  what  is  to  be  looked  for  in  examin- 
ing this  case  in  particular.  It  may  seem  strange  to  say 
that  we  are  greatly  in  the  dark  about  a  religion  which 
has  left  us  the  most  ample  remains  of  any  in  the  ancient 
world ;  but  in  this  case  we  have  enough  material  to 
begin  to  estimate  our  own  ignorance  and  to  realize  how 
much  is  required  before  we  can  understand  the  mind  of 
another  race.  That  we  have  in  Egypt  to  deal  with  a 
continuous  record  of  four  thousand  years  before 
Christianity,  and  an  unknown  age  before  that  record, 
makes  our  difficulties  the  greater,  but  affords  us  an 
unparalleled  spectacle  of  religious  history  and  develop- 
ment. And  that  we  have  in  Egypt  to  deal  with  at 
least  four  distinguishable  races  in  the  earliest  history 
and  a  dozen  subsequent  mixtures  of  race  during  recorded 
history,  again  makes  our  difficulties  the  greater,  but 
gives  a  fuller  example  of  such  a  history  of  a  religion 
than  can  be  found  elsewhere. 


2  THE  HISTORICAL  CONDITIONS 

Before  we  try  to  understand  another  mind — and 
without  such  understanding  we  can  never  realize  another 
religion — we  must  quit  our  present  point  of  view  ;  we 
must  try  to  see  how  very  different  the  minds  of  most 
other  peoples  have  been  from  our  own  at  present.  We 
must  feel  that  the  greater  part  of  mankind  has  had 
systems  of  language  which  would  be  wholly  incapable 
of  expressing  our  ideas  ;  systems  of  religion  which 
would  be  a  horror  to  us  ;  ideas  of  gods  which  would  be 
mo.nstrous  to  us  ;  their  ways  of  life  would  make  them 
flee  into  the  fields  from  our  dwellings  ;  their  systems  of 
propriety  would  bring  them  into  the  police  court ; 
and  their  systems  of  morality  would  land  them  at  once 
in  the  law  court.  We  must  set  aside  all  the  framework 
of  mind  and  thought  and  habit  in  which  we  have  been 
formed,  and  try  to  leave  our  ideas  free  to  recrystallize 
in  a  different  system.  Of  course  we  cannot  do  all  this, 
we  cannot  do  a  tenth  of  it ;  but  if  we  can  do  a  very 
little  we  shall  at  least  feel  how  different  the  world  must 
look,  how  different  the  motives  must  be,  among  people 
of  another  race,  another  faith,  another  standard,  and 
another  order  of  things.  Close  practical  contact  with 
a  very  different  race  is  the  best  guide  to  seeing  how  far 
apart  the  organizations  of  thought  are  on  different  bases. 
Learn  to  respect,  and  love,  and  be  intimate  with,  a 
man  of  a  far  distant  stage  of  life,  and  you  see  then  how 
very  deep  down  is  the  wide  platform  of  elemental  feeling 
and  thought  which  you  have  together  in  common  ; 
and  you  begin  to  perceive  how  much  you  have  each 
built  on  that  platform,  which  isolates  you  from  one 
another,  and  makes  the  point  of  view  of  each  incompre- 
hensible to  the  other. 

2.  In  dealing  with  religion  the  first  question  is,  What 


OF  RELIGIONS  3 

is  religion  ?  To  say  it  is  the  ideas  about  a  divinity  is 
to  limit  it  at  once  to  theology,  which  is  only  a  branch  of 
it.  And  what  is  a  divinity  ?  If  it  be  anything  that  is 
worshipped,  we  are  left  at  once  with  every  visible 
object  included,  as  there  is  perhaps  no  thing  or  no  being 
that  has  not  been  worshipped  at  some  time.  The  only 
view  which  will  cover  the  extremely  various  instances 
is  that  religion  is  belief  concerning  any  ideas  which 
cannot  be  immediately  verified  by  the  physical  senses. 
The  ideas  themselves  do  not  constitute  religion  ;  but 
the  act  of  belief  in  what  is  not  provable  to  the  senses  is 
the  very  basis  and  limiting  boundary  of  all  religions. 

The  idea  of  animism  which  constitutes  so  large  a 
part  of  most  religions  is  expressly  an  explanation  of 
phenomena  by  bringing  in  a  belief  in  that  which  is 
unprovable.  The  ideas  of  primitive  medicine,  which  are 
incorporated  so  strongly  in  savage  religion,  again  are 
based  on  beliefs  about  the  unprovable  ;  and  as  the  limits 
of  proof  expand  by  real  knowledge,  so  the  limits  of 
religion  in  medicine  contract. 

That  the  idea  of  personal  morality  is  not  an  integral 
part  of  most  religions*  is  obvious  to  anyone  who  has 
had  a  practical  view  of  them.  Right  and  wrong  do 
not  enter  into  the  circle  of  religious  ideas  to  most  races. 
The  piety  of  the  Carthaginian  before  Moloch,  of  the 
Roman  as  he  sent  his  captives  from  the  Capitol  to  be 
slaughtered  in  the  Colosseum,  of  Louis  XI  as  he  con- 
fided his  duplicities  to  the  Virgins  in  his  hat-band,  or  of 
Louis  XV  as  he  prayed  in  the  Parc-attx-Cerfs,  show  what 
the  brigand  who  pays  for  his  masses,  or  the  Arab  who 
swindles  in  the  intervals  of  his  prayers,  prove  in  the 
present  day — that  the  firmest  religious  beliefs  have  no 
necessary  connection  with  the  idea  of  moral  action.  In 


4  THE  HISTORICAL  CONDITIONS 

these  instances,  be  it  observed,  we  are  not  concerned 
with  differences  between  profession  and  practice,  but 
with  simultaneous  acts  of  the  same  mind  ;  deeply 
religious  on  one  side,  but  destitute  of  any  sense  of 
incongruity  between  the  religion  and  the  action  which 
is  recognizedly  wrong  on  the  other  side.  Another 
principle  of  many,  perhaps  most,  religions  is  that  they 
are  public  and  not  private  ;  they  are  collective  and  not 
individual.  They  are  concerned  with  ceremonies, 
with  common  action,  with  the  relation  of  man  to  man  ; 
the  initiation,  the  witch  doctor,  the  tabu,  are  their 
prominent  parts.  The  ideal  of  a  purely  personal  religion, 
irrespective  of  any  other  human  being,  and  inextricably 
interwoven  with  the  highest  sense  of  right  and  wrong, 
is  wholly  different  from  what  we  have  to  review  in  the 
great  mass  of  mankind,  and  is  a  growth  of  which  the 
beginning  may  be  seen  but  very  rarely  in  ancient  times. 
With  that,  therefore,  we  are  not  concerned  at  present. 

We  may  then  begin  to  realize  how  hopeless  it  is  for 
us  to  understand  the  ideas  or  feelings  of  those  ancient 
people  whose  religion  we  would  consider,  if  we  try  to 
interpret  their  views  by  our  own  ;  or  for  us  to  study 
them  without  emptying  our  minds  as  completely  as  we 
can  to  begin  with. 

3.  One  common  feature  of  many  religions  is  intoler- 
ance ;  and  it  is  so  essential  to  realize  what  this  means, 
that  we  should  look  at  it  closely,  the  more  so  as  we 
especially  profess  in  the  present  time  that  we  have  rid 
ourselves  of  it,  and  look  on  it  as  being  outside  of  our 
present  motives.  Intolerance  is  one  of  the  strongest 
instincts  of  man  ;  it  will  entirely  override  his  material 
interests,  it  can  compete  with  his  strongest  passions, 
and  it  moulds  his  social  organization.  And  for  what  ? 


OF  RELIGIONS  5 

For  merely  a  question  of  whether  two  persons  think 
alike  about  what  cannot  be  demonstrated  to  the  senses, 
and  what  cannot  visibly  influence  their  condition  in 
any  way.  Assuredly  no  such  potent  instinct  can  ever 
have  arisen  on  such  a  shadowy  ground. 

The  practical  working  of  intolerance  is  that  it  makes 
a  sharp  demarcation  between  one  group  of  men  and 
another ;  in  short,  it  defines  the  community,  and  pre- 
vents any  person  drifting  from  one  community  into 
another  without  taking  a  decisive  step.  It  may  be  said 
that  this  only  refers  to  religious  communities ;  but 
when  we  look  at  almost  any  country  or  any  age  but  our 
own,  we  see  that  the  religious  and  political  communities 
are  coterminous.  There  is  perhaps  not  an  instance  to 
be  found  of  warfare  between  those  who  hold  exactly 
the  same  religious  opinions.  The  Civil  War  in  England 
was  between  Church  and  Nonconformity,  the  revolu- 
tion in  France  was  between  a  Church  and  Atheism,  just 
as  the  earlier  civil  wars  had  been  between  Catholicism 
and  Protestantism.  The  civil  and  religious  communities 
are  identical  wherever  intolerance  has  a  hold  ;  religion 
defines  the  community,  and  intolerance  preserves  the 
boundary. 

When  we  come  to  consider  how  far  back  this  state  of 
things  has  existed  we  reach  an  absolute  limit  for  the 
action  of  religion  at  a  point  when  man  was  incapable  of 
expressing  abstract  thought ;  before  that  religion  was 
impossible.  But  the  community  is  far  older  ;  man  is  a 
communal  animal,  and  before  man  the  system  of  com- 
munity was  fully  developed  by  most  varieties  of  animals, 
who  find  in  it  the  best  protection  against  their  foes. 
When  we  look  at  these  animal  communities  we  see 
intolerance  has  the  fullest  sway,  as  the  essential  feature 


6          THE  HISTORICAL  CONDITIONS 

in  common  action.  Every  communal  animal,  from 
ants  up  to  elephants,  has  a  violent  intolerance  against 
those  that  do  not  belong  to  its  community.  And  this 
is  the  very  safeguard  of  the  system,  as  without  it  out- 
siders would  claim  the  benefits  of  protection  and  help 
without  any  obligation  to  render  the  same  in  return. 

We  then  reach  the  position  that  Intolerance  is  as 
old  as  communal  action  in  the  animal  world,  giving  the 
necessary  cohesion  to  that  action ;  and  we  notice  that 
all  animals  have  tests  for  intolerance,  they  examine 
others  by  smell,  by  appearance,  by  memory,  to  decide 
whether  they  are  of  the  same  stock  or  no.  A  test  is 
needful  for  the  action  of  this  great  safeguard.  Now, 
when  men  became  capable  of  religion,  of  abstract  ideas, 
and  of  inherited  beliefs,  such  proved  at  once  to  be  far 
the  most  decisive  test  of  the  community.  If  a  man 
thought  as  you  did  about  what  he  could  not  learn  by 
his  senses,  he  must  have  acquired  his  ideas  in  your  own 
tribe,  and  belong  to  you.  Hence  Religion  became  the 
conclusive  test  of  community,  and  animal  Intolerance 
adopted  the  human  acquirement  of  Religion  as  its  most 
effective  way  to  distinguish  friends  from  enemies. 

4.  Thus  Religion  has  nothing  essentially  intolerant 
in  it ;  but  the  detestation  of  those  who  hold  different 
opinions  is  merely  the  instinct  of  the  herd  transferred  to 
those  matters  of  opinion  which  give  it  the  most  effective 
definition. 

In  this  point  of  view  we  see  at  once  how  it  can  be 
that  intolerance  is  so  strong  and  masterful  an  instinct. 
It  has  been  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  the  community — 
and  hence  also  of  the  individual— during  the  greater 
part  of  the  history  of  animal  life  on  the  earth.  And  the 
desperate  vigour  of  wars  of  religion  is  because  they  are 


OF  RELIGIONS  7 

the  descendants  of  those  struggles  which  each  animal 
has  made  to  preserve  its  own  species.  The  prominence 
and  sacredness  of  initiation  to  people  of  all  grades  of 
religion  is  thus  explained  :  on  reaching  independence 
it  is  needful  for  each  individual  to  be  put  in  possession 
of  all  the  inherited  beliefs  which  serve  to  prove  his  right 
to  the  protection  of  his  community,  and  to  test  the  claims 
of  others  upon  his  own  assistance.  This  subject  has 
necessarily  only  been  sketched  in  the  shortest  way  here 
as  a  preliminary  to  our  next  consideration. 

5.  What  the  results  are  of  a  fusion  of  races  upon  their 
beliefs  have  to  be  noticed  before  we  can  deal  with  the 
construction  of  the  Egyptian  religion.  In  considering 
this  the  modern  fusions  of  race  are  unfortunately  not 
examples  to  the  point ;  nearly  all  modern  fusions  that 
we  can  examine  being  between  monotheism  and  poly- 
theism, and  in  such  the  exclusive  claims  of  monotheism 
leave  but  scanty  ground  for  the  previous  polytheism 
in  ctny  form. 

But  turning  to  the  ancient  world,  there  are  some  good 
examples  for  study.  The  Greek  settlers  in  Egypt,  we 
find,  largely  adopted  Egyptian  gods ;  for  instance, 
Aristoneikos  appears  on  his  stele  as  a  mummy  introduced 
by  Anubis  to  the  presence  of  Osiris  and  Isis  ;  and  the 
mummy-case  of  Artemidoros  is  covered  with  figures  of 
Anubis,  Osiris,  Isis,  Nebhat,  etc.  As  a  whole,  the  Greek 
settlers  in  their  day  appear  to  have  readily  adopted 
both  Egyptian  customs  and  Egyptian  gods.  On  the 
other  hand,  Greek  gods  were  freely  worshipped  in  Egypt 
wherever  Greek  population  was  in  force.  There  seems 
to  have  been  no  obstacle  to  the  free  acceptance  of  each 
other's  mythology,  after  the  initial  question  of  fusion 
of  the  races  was  settled.  The  Greeks  adopted  as  their 
2 


8  THE  HISTORICAL  CONDITIONS 

great  local  god  for  the  new  city  of  Alexandria  the  deified 
Hapi,  which  had  been  worshipped  as  a  bull  at  Memphis ; 
and  they  recognized  him  as  a  god  that  died  and  was 
renewed  by  calling  him  the  Osirian,  Osir-hapi,  or  Serapis. 
The  human  form  that  was  given  him  made  him  practi- 
cally a  Greek  Zeus,  and  so  ensured  his  acceptance  by  the 
Greek  world. 

Looking  at  earlier  times  in  Egypt,  we  see  the  same 
process.  After  the  fusion  of  the  Egyptian  and  Syrian 
races  in  the  XVIIIth  Dynasty,  Syrian  gods,  Baal, 
Ashteroth,  Anaitis,  and  others,  were  freely  worshipped 
in  Egypt,  probably  by  the  mixed  descendants  of  the 
two  races. 

Again,  in  the  West  we  can  trace  similar  results.  In 
Gaul  and  Britain  we  find  side  by  side  altars  to  Keltic 
and  to  Latin  deities  ;  neither  of  them  excluded  the  other, 
and  the  mixed  descendants  of  legionaries  and  natives 
worshipped  the  gods  of  either  side. 

When  we  turn  to  the  fusions  in  which  monotheism 
takes  one  part,  we  find  considerable  signs  of  the  same 
results,  in  spite  of  its  exclusiveness.  In  ancient  Judaism, 
so  long  as  any  fusion  of  race  was  allowed,  the  worship 
of  the  gods  of  both  sides  was  freely  followed  ;  and  we 
find  Manasseh  building  altars  to  all  the  host  of  heaven 
in  the  temple  of  Yahveh  at  Jerusalem.  (2  Kings  xxi.  5.) 
It  is  only  by  the  most  rigid  racial  separation  (Ezra  x. 
n,  etc.)  that  a  fusion  of  religion  was  prevented  in  later 
times.  The  same  thing  is  obvious  in  the  history  of 
Christianity ;  the  polytheism  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
mixed  races  has  never  been  eradicated  ;  the  Keltic 
fairies  were  quite  as  real  to  the  men  of  past  generations 
as  any  of  the  saints,  and  many  a  man  would  sooner  brave 
the  terrors  of  the  Church  than  insult  the  local  spirits 


OF  RELIGIONS  9 

of  the  moor  or  river.  What  we  superciliously  call 
superstitions  are  the  fossilized  religion  of  our  ancestors  ; 
and  we  see  every  day  now  around  us  men  who  are  far 
more  annoyed  by  thirteen  at  dinner  than  by  breaking 
any  precept  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  who 
believe  in  charms,  luck,  and  other  barbaric  notions 
quite  as  strongly  as  in  any  element  of  their  professed 
religion.  The  same  is  seen  when  we  look  at  races  which 
have  recently  adopted  Christianity  ;  on  all  sides,  from 
Africa,  from  Siberia,  from  New  Zealand,  we  hear  that 
the  old  beliefs  are  hardly  impaired,  and  on  any  great 
trouble  or  danger  the  venerated  customs  and  incanta- 
tions and  offerings  have  their  full  sway.  In  Hayti, 
where  the  negro  has  his  own  way,  there  appears  to  be  a 
complete  equality  of  the  old  and  new  beliefs. 

6.  From  this  review  of  examples  of  mixture  we  may 
conclude  that  the  usual  law  is  that  one  religion  does 
not  supplant  another,  but  is  only  superadded  to  it, 
the  old  and  the  new  being  each  impaired  by  only  receiv- 
ing a  partial  support.  Also  that  in  a  fusion  of  race 
there  is  a  complete  mixture  of  religion ;  and  in  a  change 
of  civilization  an  adoption  of  much  of  the  new  beliefs. 
And  that  the  question  of  which  shall  be  predominant 
depends  on  the  general  predominance  of  the  race  or 
civilization  at  any  point  in  question.  But  Intolerance 
assures  us  that  a  mixture  of  race  and  a  mixture  of  religion 
will  always  accompany  each  other,  excepting,  perhaps, 
in  a  few  cases  of  an  overwhelming  influence  of  a  great 
civilization. 

Closely  connected  with  this  is  the  difference  between 
a  popular  and  a  priestly  religion.  In  every  country  we 
see  two  editions  of  what  professes  to  be  the  same  faith  : 
one  used  in  the  household  or  family  life,  the  other  in 


10  THE  HISTORICAL  CONDITIONS 

public  worship  under  the  direction  of  the  State.  This 
divergence  is  generally  due  to  the  State  religion  belong- 
ing to  a  later  importation  of  a  ruling  race,  while  the 
domestic  religion  retains  more  of  the  aboriginal  type. 
We  may  see  this  among  ourselves  where  many  ideas  of 
a  future  state  commonly  accepted  belong  evidently 
to  Keltic  or  Saxon  faiths,  and  have  no  root  whatever 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church.  And  we  note  the  result 
of  the  same  action  in  the  Teutonic  ideas  of  equality 
which  are  inherent  in  the  Nonconformist  rebellion 
against  that  priestly  character  of  the  Church,  which  is 
of  Latin  origin  and  of  Norman  enforcement. 

So  we  may  reasonably  expect  to  find  more  of  the 
native  parts  of  a  religion  showing  in  the  popular  and 
domestic  worship  ;  while  the  later  elements  will  be 
stronger  in  the  official  worship.  Thus  the  divergence 
between  these  two  may  serve  as  a  test  of  the  relative 
ages  of  different  articles  of  belief. 

On  another  point  we  have  little  or  no  data  to  positively 
guide  us  ;  but  it  seems  not  unlikely  that  older  beliefs 
when  partially  overgrown  with  newer  will  gradually 
force  their  way  into  prominence  again,  while  the  newer 
will  fade  in  importance.  This  may  be  surmised  when 
we  note  that  a  conquered  race  always  subdues  its  con- 
querors to  its  own  type  after  a  few  centuries  of  fusion. 
The  Lombard-Italians,  the  Norman-French,  the  Anglo- 
Irish,  illustrate  this.  And  what  is  true  of  the  races  is 
probably  true  of  the  religions.  Hence  when  a  particular 
belief  which  belongs  to  the  people  steadily  wins  its  way 
against  more  ostentatious  and  dominant  worship,  there 
is  a  fair  presumption  that  it  belongs  to  the  other  stratum, 
which  has  been  temporarily  overlaid. 

We  have  now  endeavoured  to  reach  some  ideas  of 


OF  RELIGIONS  11 

the  phenomena  of  mixture  in  religion ;  and  to  gain 
some  guide  by  which  we  may  interpret  what  we  notice 
in  considering  the  Egyptian  religion  in  its  historical 
aspect. 

7.  When  we  look  to  the  evidences  of  the  various  races 
which  together  formed  the  population  of  Egypt  at  the 
earliest  historical  age,  we  are  able  to  glean  some  valuable 
hints,  mainly  from  the  portraiture.  Three  distinct 
types  are  met  with  on  the  sculptures  of  the  IVth 
Dynasty.  The  ruling  race  is  akin  to  the  type  of  the 
people  of  Punt,  the  "  divine  land  "  ;  and  it  seems  most 
probable  that  the  dynastic  Egyptians  entered  the  Nile 
valley  at  Koptos  from  the  Red  Sea.  Another  type  found 
in  high  position  is  akin  to  the  early  Mesopotamian  heads 
from  Tell  Lo  ;  and  it  is  generally  recognized  that  there 
are  so  many  traces  of  influence  from  that  tegion  that 
an  immigration  thence  is  a  probable  factor.  Thirdly, 
there  is  a  coarse  type  of  a  mulatto  appearance  ;  and 
as  it  is  certain  anatomically  that  there  is  much  negro 
blood  in  the  oldest  Egyptians,  we  have  one  element  of 
the  mulatto  in  evidence.  The  light  element  is  doubt- 
less Libyan,  because  throughout  historic  times  invasions 
from  the  West  have  occurred  every  few  centuries,  and 
they  are  not  likely  to  have  originated  at  the  rise  of 
Egyptian  power  :  also  the  negroes  are  most  likely  to 
have  mixed  with  the  fair  races  which  bounded  their 
region  in  the  North.  This  has  been  stated  at  length 
in  the  History  (i.  12-15),  and  need  not,  therefore,  be 
more  fully  entered  on  here. 

We  have  thus  to  expect  a  first  stratum  of  negro  and 
Libyan,  then  a  Mesopotamian  influence,  and  lastly  a 
Punite  power,  in  the  religions  as  also  in  the  races. 


LECTURE  II 
THE  POPULAR  RELIGION   OF  EGYPT 

8.  FROM  the  scarcity  of  objects  of  domestic  worship 
belonging  to  early  times  it  is  difficult  to  trace  the 
popular  religion  on  the  material  side,  as  we  can  study 
the  official  religion  upon  the  monuments.  It  is  never- 
theless the  most  important  source  that  we  can  have 
for  understanding  the  early  beliefs,  as  it  probably 
represents  the  religion  of  an  earlier  type  than  that 
officially  adopted.  Happily  we  have  a  tolerable  outline 
of  it  embodied  in  the  priceless  series  of  tales,  which 
reveal  to  us  so  much  of  Egyptian  life. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  us  in  the  tales  is  that  the 
gods  are  by  no  means  omniscient  nor  omnipotent. 
There  appear  to  be  three  independent  powers — the 
gods,  fate,  and  man ;  and  each  of  these  can  act 
irrespective  of  the  others. 

The  powers  of  man  are  expressed  in  magic  ;  and  in 
this  we  see  what  is  probably  the  very  earliest  form  of 
belief.  The  lack  of  realizing  what  the  limits  of  natural 
action  are,  the  readiness  to  credit  exceptional  persons 
with  powers  which  we  do  not  possess,  is  one  of  the  most 
frequent  errors  of  the  uninstructed  mind,  and  one  which 
we  may  see  around  us  at  present.  In  all  the  earliest 
tales  the  magician  is  the  mainspring  of  the  action. 
He  can  make  magical  animals  by  modelling  them,  and 
make  them  live  and  act,  or  return  to  their  original 

12 


THE    POPULAR  RELIGION  OF  EGYPT    13 

material  at  his  will.  He  can  resuscitate  decapitated 
animals.  He  can  divide  the  river,  and  descend  to  its 
bed.  There  is  nothing  that  is  impossible  to  him  in 
dealing  either  with  inert  or  with  living  matter.  So  far 
there  is  nothing  spiritual  in  question,  but  simply  the 
limit  of  man's  control  over  matter  and  life,  which  appears 
to  be  quite  undefined,  and  to  be  credited  with  any 
amount  of  extension.  Such  was  the  belief  in  the  Old 
Kingdom  to  which  the  writing  of  these  tales  belongs. 

When  we  look  at  later  tales  we  do  not  find  magic 
predominant  until  the  Ptolemaic  age.  At  that  time  the 
physical  magic  of  the  early  times  reappears  in  full  force. 
A  magic  cabin  with  men  and  tackle  is  made  to  work 
under  water  ;  and  a  magical  recitation  can  make  the 
dead  to  speak,  although  it  cannot  restore  them  to  life. 
Magic  is  also  connected  at  this  time  with  powers  over 
that  which  is  out  of  reach,  so  that  all  that  is  beyond  our 
ken  should  be  perceived  by  eye  and  ear  ;  the  birds  of 
the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  deep  are  to  be  understood, 
and  the  dead  shall  hear  and  see  all  that  the  living 
perceive  and  do,  by  means  of  these  magic  spells.  This 
bears  the  general  character  of  the  later  magic  of  the 
Gnostics. 

9.  Regarding  the  soul,  we  do  not  glean  any  belief 
from  the  earlier  tales.  The  king's  soul  is  referred  to 
as  a  hawk,  in  the  Xllth  Dynasty,  and  again  in  the 
XlXth  ;  thus  explaining  the  hawk  which  is  figured 
over  the  king's  ka  name,  as  being  his  soul  or  ba.  The 
combination  of  the  human-headed  bird  for  the  ba  of 
ordinary  men  is  doubtless  later  than  the  belief  in  the 
royal  ba  being  a  hawk  ;  later  because  it  would  be  the 
more  noble  to  have  a  human  head  than  a  bird's  head, 
and  the  hawk  must  have  been  firmly  attached  to  the 


14  THE  POPULAR  RELIGION 

theory  of  the  royal  soul  before  the  half -human  form  was 
devised  for  all  men  ;  also  later  because  the  supposition 
of  the  soul  flitting  as  a  bird  would  precede  the  invention 
of  a  monstrous  form  to  represent  it.  How  early  the 
ba-bird  was  invented  is  not  known.  The  oldest  repre- 
sentations of  it  are  not  before  the  New  Kingdom  ;  and 
as  in  that  age  we  find  another  belief  about  the  soul, 
it  seems  as  if  the  6#-bird  was  not  universally  accepted 
at  that  time. 

This  other  belief  is  that  the  soul  could  be  taken  out 
of  the  body  at  will,  and  placed  in  any  other  position  ; 
in  this  case  of  Bat  a  it  was  hidden  on  the  top  of  a  tree. 
While  the  soul  was  thus  deposited,  the  life  of  the  man 
was  independent  of  what  might  occur  to  his  body  ;  but 
he  fell  down  dead  if  the  seat  of  his  soul  was  destroyed. 
This  belief  is  spread  from  the  Celts  to  the  Chinese,  and 
is  therefore  a  standard  piece  of  psychology.  But  as 
we  do  not  meet  with  it  elsewhere  in  Egypt,  and  it  is 
antagonistic  to  the  ba  theory,  it  is  more  likely  not  to 
belong  to  Egypt,  but  to  have  been  imported  from  Asia 
Minor  along  with  the  rest  of  the  Atys  myth  in  which 
it  appears. 

The  ka  is  not  alluded  to  in  the  tales  until  Ptolemaic 
times,  although  we  know  from  monuments  that  the 
belief  in  it  belongs  to  the  earliest  religion.  We  gain, 
however,  an  enlarged  idea  of  it  from  its  action  in  the 
tale  of  Setna.  There  a  ka  has  the  affections  of  its  former 
life,  and  it  will  wander  hundreds  of  miles  from  its  own 
tomb  to  dwell  in  the  tomb  of  its  mate.  Yet  it  is  uneasy 
at  being  so  separated  from  its  own  tomb,  as  the  union 
of  the  two  burials  is  desired  by  it.  The  ka  is  equally 
visible,  and  viable  whether  in  its  own  place  or  any  other. 
It  can  talk  and  describe  the  past ;  it  can  argue,  it  can 


OF  EGYPT  15 

play  games  with  mortals,  it  can  inflict  supernatural 
penalties.  But  its  powers  cease  where  physical  force 
is  concerned ;  Setna,  after  stories,  arguments,  and 
gaming  have  been  tried  on  him  in  vain,  takes  by  force 
the  roll  which  he  covets,  simply  reaching  out  his  hand 
for  the  book  and  taking  it.  Thus,  while  the  senses, 
the  memory,  the  speech,  discernment,  and  motion  are 
all  credited  to  the  ka,  and  we  begin  to  wonder  in  what 
it  differs  from  the  living  person,  the  touch  of  simple 
force  undoes  its  powers  at  once.  It  has  then  all  the 
full  properties  of  mind,  but  not  the  abilities  to  act  with 
force  upon  matter.  Though  this  is  a  very  late  account 
of  the  ka,  yet  it  accords  well  with  the  partial  light  on 
its  nature  that  we  have  on  the  older  monuments.  The 
whole  motive  of  tomb  decoration  was  to  provide  a  home 
for  the  ka,  furnished  with  all  good  things.  '  The  models 
and  images  of  the  food  and  furniture,  servants  and 
estates,  are  the  equivalent  of  the  realities  to  the  mind  ; 
and  as  the  ka  cannot  exercise  force  upon  matter,  the 
provision  of  actual  matter  is  not  required.  No  doubt 
this  is  a  logical  refinement  on  the  primitive  offering 
of  the  cake  of  bread  and  jar  of  water,  such  as  we  find 
in  the  earliest  tombs,  and  such  as  is  still  presented  after 
six  thousand  years  in  the  tombs  of  the  fellaheen  now. 
There  the  actual  material  without  any  theorizing  is 
placed  by  the  body  for  its  sustenance,  and  its  sandals 
and  staff  for  its  long  journey  lie  by  it.  And  as  the 
offering  is  still  now  made,  so  probably  it  had  been  made 
for  thousands  of  years  before  the  earliest  burials  that 
we  know.  The  dogma  of  the  ka  using  these  offerings 
without  any  material  diminution  of  them,  and  its  satis- 
faction with  the  images  of  the  offerings,  is  evidently  a 
later  conception  ;  while  yet  we  see  the  earlier  idea  in 


16  THE  POPULAR  RELIGION 

its  most  primitive  simplicity  lasting  until  the  present 
day. 

10.  So  far  we  have  dealt  with  man  and  his  parts  ; 
we  now  turn  to  the  supernatural  forces  around  him. 
Closely  linked  with  the  belief  in  the  ka  and  ba  was  the 
worship  of  the  tree  spirit.  In  many  representations 
we  have  the  tree  goddess  in  various  forms — human, 
cow-headed,  or  shown  as  a  mere  arm  emerging  from  the 
branches  of  the  sycomore,  and  pouring  out  blessings 
on  the  kneeling  ka  and  the  bowing  ba  bird.  The  suste- 
nance of  the  parts  of  the  dead  was  attributed  to  the  bene- 
ficent tree  spirit,  and  hence  the  widespread  veneration 
of  the  sycomore  in  every  home,  and  more  particularly 
about  Memphis  with  its  vast  cemetery  of  Sakkara,  where 
the  great  sycomore  of  the  south  was  a  noted  feature. 
It  is  alluded  to  in  the  Xllth  Dynasty  as  a  well-known 
point  in  the  country.  This  group  of  ideas  of  the  ka, 
ba,  and  sycomore  spirit,  was  associated  with  the  domestic 
worship,  and  perhaps  formed  the  main  part  of  it.  In 
the  Ramesseum  dwellings  a  niche  in  the  wall  has  this 
group  painted  in  it ;  another  such  niche  has  a  flight 
of  steps  leading  up  to  it  as  a  sacred  place,  and  similar 
niches  are  found  in  the  private  houses  of  Tell  el  Amarna. 
The  focus  of  domestic  worship  then  appears  to  have  been 
a  niche  or  false  door  in  the  wall  of  the  principal  hall, 
usually  in  the  west  wall  like  the  false  doors  of  tombs  ; 
this  was  dignified  with  steps  in  some  cases,  and  painted 
with  the  objects  of  adoration,  the  ancestral  double 
and  spirit,  ka  and  ba,  and  the  tree-genius  who  preserved 
them. 

The  tree  is  named  as  the  residence  of  a  human  spirit 
in  the  XlXth  Dynasty,  when  Bata  places  his  soul  on  a 
tree  to  preserve  it,  and  drops  dead  himself  when  the 


OF  EGYPT  17 

tree  is  cut  down.  Again,  he  is  transformed  into  two 
trees,  and  speaks  from  a  tree  to  his  wicked  wife.  Hence 
it  seems  that  a  tree  with  its  thick  hiding  foliage  and  deep 
shade  was  thought  to  be  particularly  a  suitable  abode 
for  both  human  and  divine  spirits  ;  and  "  the  sycomore 
of  the  south  "  is  called  the  living  body  of  Hathor. 

Offerings  were  made  to  trees,  evidently  to  propitiate 
the  spirit  which  dwelt  in  them  ;  the  peasant  is  figured 
bowing  to  the  sycomore  in  his  field,  and  surrounding 
it  with  jars  of  drink  offerings  ;  and  when  Bat  a  is  trans- 
formed into  two  Persea  trees,  "  there  were  offerings 
made  to  them." 

What  divinities  were  associated  with  trees  is  a  very 
variable  point.  The  sycomore  has  always  a  goddess, 
generically  described  as  Hathor,  or  specifically  as  Nut, 
Selk,  or  Neit.  This  variation  shows  that  ^he  tree  does 
not  belong  to  any  of  these  deities  in  particular,  but  is 
only  the  residence  of  a  beneficent  tree-goddess,  who  was 
identified  with  any  goddess  that  was  prominent.  In 
fact  it  belongs  to  a  different  religion  to  that  of  these 
human  goddesses,  and  was  combined  with  them  after- 
wards. In  one  case  a  god  is  named  when  a  tall  palm 
is  identified  with  Tahuti. 

n.  The  part  that  animals  hold  in  the  religion  is 
important ;  yet  we  find  very  little  trace  of  it  in  the  tales. 
In  the  earliest  time  a  crocodile  is  always  the  minister 
of  vengeance,  but  is  not  regarded  as  divine.  In  the 
Xllth  Dynasty  the  serpents  of  the  enchanted  island 
talk,  and  in  the  XlXth  Dynasty  the  kine  of  Bata  talk. 
The  first  case  is,  however,  a  part  of  distant  marvels ; 
and  the  second  probably  means  that  Bata  was  so  obser- 
vant and  sympathetic  with  his  cattle,  that  their  actions 
were  like  speech  to  him.  It  does  not  then  seem  that 


18  THE   POPULAR  RELIGION 

talking  animals,  which  are  so  familiar  in  other  beliefs, 
had  any  real  place  in  Egyptian  ideas.  The  worship 
of  the  sacred  bull  appears  in  the  tale  of  Bata  ;  and  there 
a  great  feast  is  made  to  the  animal  god  just  before  he 
is  killed.  That  killing  the  god  was  part  of  the  religion 
we  can  well  believe  when  we  see  it  in  other  countries  ; 
and  even  in  Egypt  a  ram  was  killed  yearly  at  Thebes, 
and  the  statue  of  Amen  covered  with  its  skin.  The 
actual  remains  of  the  bulls  found  in  the  Serapeum  by 
Mariette  show  that  in  the  XlXth  Dynasty  they  were 
consumed  by  the  worshippers,  as  is  shown  by  Bata's 
wife  eating  the  bull's  liver.  That  the  slaughter  of 
venerated  animals  was  not  discordant  to  Egyptian 
ideas,  we  also  see  by  the  death  of  the  cow  which  had 
been  specially  selected  and  brought  up  as  a  mate  to  the 
Apis  bull,  but  which  was  killed  immediately  after  con- 
sorting with  him  The  Egyptian  regarded  a  continuity 
of  life  as  so  assured  through  the  ka  and  the  ba,  that  it 
did  not  make  much  break  in  the  life  for  it  to  be  trans- 
ferred from  one  state  to  the  other. 

Other  popular  worships  of  animals  are  seen  in  the 
treatment  of  the  sacred  serpent  or  good  genius  of  build- 
ings and  places  ;  and  the  serpent  goddess  of  agriculture 
Renent,  who  was  adored  with  offerings.  This  is 
probably  a  very  primitive  worship,  as  also  that  of  the 
cynocephali  baboons,  with  their  solemn  faces,  which 
gave  them  the  credit  of  the  embodiment  of  wisdom, 
and  their  activity  at  sunrise,  when  they  were  supposed 
to  adore  the  sun-god. 

12.  Of  the  purely  spiritual  conceptions  is  that  of  the 
fates,  who  predict  an  enigmatical  future  for  the  man 
at  his  birth.  In  the  early  time  the  goddess  Meskhent — 
a  birth-deity — predicts  the  future  of  the  infant ;  but  in 


OF  EGYPT  19 

the  New  Kingdom  we  see  that  a  group  of  goddesses, 
generically  termed  Hathors,  are  present  and  give  an 
oracular  utterance  which  may  have  several  interpreta- 
tions. They  appear  to  see  a  part  of  the  future,  to  be 
able  to  assign  the  limits  of  its  uncertainties,  but  not  to 
control  or  regulate  it  in  the  least.  Much  of  the  choice 
of  the  future  lies  with  man  himself ;  his  own  foresight 
and  ingenuity  is  to  help  him  ;  yet  he  cannot  step  beyond 
certain  limits  where  his  fate  meets  him,  and  bounds  his 
freedom  of  action.  This  is  a  very  practical  version  of 
the  limited  freedom  of  action  which  men  possess  ;  recon- 
ciling the  apparent  ability  of  man  to  determine  his 
condition,  with  the  ruthless  chapter  of  accidents  which 
binds  him.  He  has  a  certain  course  and  end  broadly 
assigned  to  him,  within  the  limits  of  which  he  can  modify 
his  life  and  rule  his  state.  When  he  has  overcome  one 
of  the  possibilities  of  evil  which  beset  him,  'he  is  thence- 
forth free  of  that  risk  for  the  future,  "  Thy  god  has  given 
one  of  thy  dooms  into  thy  hand/'  This  conception 
would  seem  to  have  arisen  from  a  man  overcoming  some 
particular  temptation  which  might  be  a  doom  to  him, 
and  so  being  delivered  from  its  overwhelming  him  in 
future. 

13.  We  lastly  turn  to  what  views  the  people  had  of 
their  gods.  In  the  Old  Kingdom  tales  we  find  Ra 
supreme  ;  but  that  is  to  be  expected,  as  the  Vth 
Dynasty,  which  is  in  question,  is  described  as  being 
descended  from  Ra,  and  called  its  kings  "  Sons  of  Ra.". 
Ra  there  orders  the  other  deities,  Isis  and  Nebhat,  the 
osiride  goddesses,  Meskhent,  the  name  goddess,  Hekt, 
the  goddess  of  birth,  and  Khnumu,  the  creative  god, 
who  gives  strength  to  the  limbs  of  the  new-born.  All 
of  these  deities  are  purely  human  in  form,  and  they 


20  THE  POPULAR  RELIGION 

appear  as  a  party  of  travelling  dancing  girls  with  a 
porter.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  osiride  group  were 
the  prominent  human  divinities — as  distinguished  from 
the  cosmic  Ra — at  that  time  ;  and  that  the  domestic 
deities  of  creation  and  birth  were  familiar  to  the  Egyp- 
tian. But  no  marvels  are  attributed  to  them  beyond 
the  control  of  the  weather,  and  the  making  of  models 
of  royal  crowns  which  gave  out  a  sound  of  festivity 
afterwards  when  hidden. 

In  a  later  time  we  find  in  the  New  Kingdom  Ra  is 
appealed  to  as  a  deliverer,  who  can  interpose  obstacles 
to  an  unjust  attack.  And  swearing  by  Ra-Harakhti 
was  the  regular  form  of  a  strong  asseveration  of  the 
truth,  as  it  occurs  in  two  tales. 

Beside  Ra,  we  find  in  the  XlXth  Dynasty  an  Ennead, 
or  group  of  nine  gods,  who  are  popularly  supposed  to 
walk  together  on  the  earth  to  view  all  that  passes.  Ra- 
Harakhti  is  at  the  head  of  this  group,  and  Khnumu  is 
of  the  company ;  but  the  remainder  are  unspecified, 
and  as  the  well-known  enneads  do  not  contain  Khnumu 
we  cannot  be  certain  who  was  implied  in  this,  or,  indeed, 
if  any  gods  were  referred  to  in  particular.  Probably 
it  only  implies  the  principal  gods  in  general.  But  it 
is  remarkable  that  they  do  not  rule  immovable  in  heaven, 
but  walk  together  on  the  earth  "  to  look  upon  the  whole 
land/'  Khnumu,  the  potter  who  forms  mankind  on 
his  wheel,  here  frames  a  non-human  woman,  who  is 
devoid  of  all  natural  feeling  or  passions,  and  has  but  a 
craving  for  power. 

On  reaching  the  Ptolemaic  times  we  get  further  light 
on  the  popular  conceptions  of  the  gods.  When  Na- 
nefer-ka-ptah  by  magic  obtains  the  hidden  book  of 
Thoth,  it  takes  apparently  a  day  or  two  for  Thoth  to 


OF  EGYPT  21 

discover  the  loss.  He  is  therefore  dependent  upon 
sources  of  information,  and  is  not  omniscient.  Next 
he  goes  to  Ra  to  complain  ;  Ra  therefore  is  not 
omniscient.  And  Ra  gives  Thoth  permission  to  punish 
Na-nefer-ka-ptah  ;  Thoth  therefore  cannot  avenge  him- 
self without  permission.  Next,  neither  of  the  gods  can 
act  directly  by  his  will  upon  man  or  matter,  as  Ra  ' '  sent 
a  power  from  heaven  with  the  command  "  to  injure 
Na-nefer-ka-ptah.  This  introduces  another  conception, 
that  of  angels  or  messengers,  which  became  so  important 
in  gnosticism  and  Christianity.  The  power  accordingly 
acts  at  once,  and  evil  ensues,  the  child  is  drowned.  The 
drowned  child  can  be  forced  into  speech  by  reading 
magic  spells  over  him  ;  and  in  this  state  he  can  reveal 
what  the  gods  had  done.  This  suggests  the  idea  that 
the  news  of  the  spiritual  world  goes  round  from  mouth 
to  mouth  as  in  this  world  ;  and  when  a  spirit  once  went 
there  the  acts  of  the  gods  became  known  to  it. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  belief  in  the  gods  was  entirely 
different  from  modern  ideas.  They  were  neither  self- 
informed  nor  self-acting  ;  but  they  depended  on  infor- 
mation received,  and  they  acted  through  messengers. 
This  may  be  a  later  form  of  belief,  as  in  earlier  times 
we  see  Bata  calling  on  Ra,  and  Ra  directly  listening 
to  him  and  attending  to  his  needs. 

Passing  now  from  the  tales  we  may  glean  somewhat 
about  the  popular  beliefs  from  the  lesser  remains, 
such  as  private  tablets  and  little  figures  of  gods,  which 
are  frequently  found,  and  yet  which  are  some  of  them  of 
different  type  to  anything  portrayed  in  the  temples. 
The  serpent-worship  of  the  goddess  Renent  Nebtka, 
the  divinity  of  cultivation,  is  shown  at  a  harvest  festival. 
A  great  heap  of  the  grain  is  piled  up  before  her  ;  the 


22  THE  POPULAR  RELIGION 

long-handled  shovels  and  forks  and  the  winnowing 
scrapers  are  stuck  upright  into  the  heap  as  being  done 
with  ;  two  men  are  still  piling  on  the  grain  from  measures 
which  they  carry ;  while  beyond,  the  winnowers  are 
finishing  the  winnowing  over  another  heap  of  grain. 
This  is  a  scene  of  the  beginning  of  the  XlXth  Dynasty, 
and  shows  a  popular  festival  of  that  time. 

14.  The  ivory  wands  covered  with  incised  figures 
belonging  to  the  Middle  Kingdom  show  a  large  number 
of  deities  and  genii,  which  have  more  connection  with 
the  Book  of  the  Dead  than  with  any  state  worship. 
Among  these  the  great  cat,  who  is  in  the  Persea  tree  of 
Heliopolis,  the  Mehurt  cow,  and  the  eye  of  Horus,  all 
belong  to  the  XVIIth  chapter,  which  is  considered  one 
of  the  earliest.  Beside  these  there  are  shown  Taurt 
devouring  a  captive  ;  Bes,  both  in  male  and  female 
form,  holding  serpents  ;  Taurt  and  Sekhet  devouring 
serpents ;  and  Set.  The  tortoise,  frog,  and  scarab 
appear ;  and  several  monsters,  as  a  serpent-headed 
leopard  ;  hawk-headed  leopard  winged,  with  a  human 
head  between  the  wings  ;  sphinx  ;  and  winged  uraeus. 
These  figures  are  akin  to  those  monsters  represented  at 
Beni  Hasan.  This  group  of  supernatural  figures  gives 
an  outline  of  the  commonly  received  ideas,  apparently 
connected  with  the  coming  forth  from  Duat,  or  the 
under-world,  like  the  XVIIth  chapter,  which  has  evi- 
dently a  connection  with  these  carvings. 

Coming  to  later  times  one  of  the  most  usual  objects 
of  popular  worship  is  a  small  stele  or  tablet  with  Horus 
on  the  crocodiles.  In  the  earliest  form,  a.bout  the 
XVIIIth-XIXth  Dynasty  (basalt  tablet,  F.P.  coll.), 
Horus  is  a  hunter  armed  with  bow  and  quiver  ;  we  see 
then  that  the  animals  must  be  those  which  he  has  slain. 


OF  EGYPT  23 

As  Maspero  has  pointed  out,  all  the  animals  figured 
were  supposed  to  fascinate  man,  the  lion,  oryx,  scorpion, 
serpent,  and  crocodile  ;  and  Horus  conquered  them  to 
protect  man.  Next,  in  the  XXIInd  Dynasty,  we  have 
a  similar  idea  of  Ptah-Sokar,  the  deformed  pigmy 
figure,  who  stands  on  crocodiles,  and  grasps  serpents 
in  his  hands.  These  serpents  sometimes  are  figured 
as  being  half  in  his  mouth,  with  only  the  tails  out. 
This  is  another  view  of  the  protection  against  serpents 
by  eating  them,  which  is  the  common  practice  of  South 
African  people  at  present,  and  probably  of  all  serpent 
charmers.  Experiments  very  completely  performed 
with  serpent  poisons,  and  just  published,  show  that  doses 
of  poison  and  also  of  serpent's  blood  taken  internally 
confer  on  the  eater  immunity  from  the  effects  of  injected 
poison,  such  as  that  infused  by  bites.  The  Ptah-Sokar 
eating  serpents  is,  therefore,  overcoming  them  in  another 
way.  In  the  later  Ptolemaic  times,  tablets  of  Horus 
on  the  crocodiles  are  very  common,  crowded  on  the 
back  and  sides  with  inscriptions  which  have  neither 
accuracy  nor  meaning.  Such  tablets  abound  just  when 
the  use  of  other  amulets  came  into  common  fashion, 
and  they  lead  on  to  the  great  belief  in  amulets  in  gnostic 
times.  We  see  then  here  an  important  element  of 
popular  religion  in  these  tablets,  which  were  to  serve 
for  the  protection  of  the  owner  from  noxious  animals. 

15.  The  main  worship  of  the  people  in  the  later  times 
of  the  Greek  and  Roman  occupations  seems  to  have 
been  concentrated  upon  Isis  and  Horus.  The  innumer- 
able cheap  terra-cotta  figures  of  Horus  in  all  forms,  are 
the  commonest  objects  of  the  Roman  period.  With  a 
hole  in  the  back  to  hang  on  a  peg  in  the  wall,  they  were 
placed  in  the  huts  of  the  poorest  of  the  people  ;  their 
3 


24  THE  POPULAR  RELIGION 

cost  must  have  been  so  minute  that  none  would  be  so 
poor  as  not  to  own  one.  No  other  god  seems  to  have 
had  such  popularization,  and  even  Isis  and  Serapis 
come  far  behind  Horus  in  their  general  acceptance. 
Broadly  speaking,  the  Egyptians  were  a  Horus-worship- 
ping  people  in  Roman  times,  honouring  Isis  also  as  his 
mother  ;  and  the  influence  that  this  had  on  the  develop- 
ment of  Christianity  was  profound.  We  may  even  say 
that  but  for  the  presence  of  Egypt  we  should  never  have 
seen  a  Madonna.  Isis  had  obtained  a  great  hold  on  the 
Romans  under  the  earlier  Emperors,  her  worship  was 
fashionable  and  widespread  ;  and  when  she  found  a 
place  in  the  other  great  movement,  that  of  the  Galileans, 
when  fashion  and  moral  conviction  could  shake  hands, 
then  her  triumph  was  assured,  and,  as  the  Mother 
Goddess,  she  has  ruled  the  devotion  of  Italy  ever  since. 
How  much  Horus  has  entered  into  the  popular  develop- 
ment of  Christianity — how  the  figure  of  the  Divine 
Teacher,  set  in  a  sad,  stern  frame  of  Semitic  and  Syrian 
influence,  has  become  changed  into  the  rampant  baby 
of  Correggio — is  seen  readily  when  we  note  the  general 
popular  worship  of  the  child  Horus,  and  see  that  passing 
over  into  the  rising  influence  of  Christianity.  In  one 
small  particular  there  is  much  significance.  The  well- 
known  Christian  monogram  (khi-rho)  may  be  seen  in 
course  of  gradual  formation  in  Egypt — or  possibly  in 
course  of  alteration  ;  but  the  rho  is  usually  figured  as 
an  upright  staff  with  the  lock  of  Horus  at  the  top,  and 
not  the  letter  rho.  Essentially  it  is  the  sign  of  Horus, 
and  only  became  Christian  by  adoption. 

We  have  now  briefly  gone  over  the  various  elements 
of  popular  religion  in  Egypt,  as  distinct  from  that  of 
the  temples  ;  religion  which  was  far  less  influenced  by 


OF   EGYPT  25 

political  and  other  changes,  and  was  really  the  vital 
belief  of  the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants.  It  is 
simpler  than  the  official  and  priestly  worship,  and  has 
a  much  greater  vitality.  Buried  in  the  hearts  of 
millions,  changes  could  not  uproot  it,  and  with  nominal 
modifications,  and  with  new  ideals  implanted  in  it,  the 
old  framework  has  largely  kept  its  hold  down  to  the 
present  time,  excepting  where  the  violent  monotheism 
of  Islam  has  crushed  it.  The  conquests  of  Islam  were 
not  so  much  over  Christianity  as  over  the  elder  paganism, 
which  had  retained  its  hold  and  its  position  ;  and  it  was 
that  alone  which  gave  force  and  point  to  the  invectives 
of  Muhammed  against  the  far  older  Tritheism, 
Mariolatry,  and  Saint-worship  which  went  by  the  name 
of  Christianity  in  his  times. 


LECTURE  III 
THE  DISCORDANCES  OF  EGYPTIAN  RELIGION 

16.  THE  discordances  and  contradictions  in  any 
religion  are  one  of  the  most  important  evidences  of 
its  history.  The  ruling  idea  of  most  religious  beliefs 
is  the  need  of  accounting  for  something,  and  of  explain- 
ing the  mysteries  of  life.  Hence  beliefs  which  explain 
the  unseen  in  a  totally  different  way  and  with  different 
ideals  will  not  be  needlessly  produced  at  a  single  source. 
Some  new  influence  must  be  at  work  to  cause  diversity  ; 
and  when  two  views  live  on  side  by  side  with  partial 
fusion,  it  is — like  instances  of  two  mythologies — an 
evidence  of  a  mixture  of  peoples  who  had  held  varying 
opinions. 

This  discrepancy  in  belief  is  most  characteristic  of 
Egypt,  and  we  need  to  disentangle  the  elements  before 
we  can  venture  to  classify  them. 

Concerning  the  future  state  of  man  there  were  at  least 
three  wholly  contradictory  theories ;  the  Earthly, 
the  Elysian,  and  the  Solar  theories  :  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  mummy  theory  is  a  fourth. 

The  Earthly  theory  was  that  of  the  ka,  or  double, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  had  the  feelings  and  the  activities 
of  life,  only  limited  by  the  inability  to  act  on  matter. 
This  ka  required  a  supply  of  food,  in  the  form  of  continu- 
ally renewed  offerings,  for  which  a  place  of  offering  was 

26 


DISCORD ANCES,  OF  EGYPTIAN  RELIGION     27 

provided  in  front  of  the  doorway  which  led  to  the  tomb- 
pit.  Up  that  pit  from  the  sepulchre  passed  the  ka, 
and  also  the  ba  or  soul,  and  coming  out  through  the 
imitation  door  that  was  provided  it  fed  on  the  offerings 
which  were  laid  on  the  altar  in  front  of  the  door.  Soon  a 
recess  was  made  for  the  altar  by  added  coatings  to  the 
mastaba  that  developed  into  a  chamber,  and  then  that 
chamber  was  elaborated  into  a  dwelling  for  the  ka, 
its  walls  were  covered  with  figures  of  offerings  and  of 
servants,  and  large  granaries  and  store-rooms  were 
provided  in  it.  Being  incapable  of  acting  on  matter, 
the  image  of  an  offering  was  as  good  as  the  object  itself 
to  the  ka  \  and  so  the  continually  renewed  offerings  of 
the  earliest  times  became  changed  for  the  permanent 
pictures  of  the  offerings.  This  view  of  the  ka  and  the 
ba  was  associated  with  the  tree-spirit  worship,  and  these 
together  formed  a  domestic  worship,  which  was 
associated  with  niches  or  figures  of  doorways  in  dwellings 
where  the  ancestors  were  adored.  All  of  this  theory 
implies  a  continued  after-life  upon  the  earth,  dependent 
on  earthly  support. 

17.  The  Elysian  theory  was  entirely  independent  of 
any  connection  with  the  earth.  The  dead  became  the 
subjects  of  the  great  god  of  the  dead,  Osiris  ;  they  lived 
in  Aalu,  a  mythic  land  beyond  the  ken  of  man,  at  first 
supposed  to  be  on  earth  or  later  on  in  heaven.  There 
they  navigated  on  the  canals,  they  tilled  the  soil,  they 
planted,  they  watered,  they  reaped.  And  admission 
to  this  duplicate  of  earthly  life  was  obtained  by  a  test 
of  weighing  the  heart  to  see  if  it  were  true  and  right, 
and  denying  the  commission  of  all  earthly  sins  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  Osiris.  Here  we  have  a  totally  dif- 
ferent theory,  and  one  which  left  no  time  or  opportunity 


28  THE  DISCORDANCES  OF 

for  the  ka  to  wander  on  this  earth,  and  no  need  for  it 
to  be  provided  with  earthly  sustenance. 

The  Solar  theory  was  equally  independent  of  both  of 
the  others.  The  deceased  flew  up  to  the  sun,  and  joined 
the  solar  bark  :  he  passed  through  all  the  perils  of  the 
night  under  the  protection  of  Ra,  and  emerged  into  new 
day  at  sunrise.  For  ever  he  dwelt  with  Ra,  and  shared 
his  dangers  by  night  and  his  successes  by  day. 

18.  Now,  none  of  these  theories,  it  will  be  observed, 
requires  the  mummy.  The  Elysian  and  Solar  theories 
ignore  the  body  on  earth  ;  and  the  figure  of  the  deceased 
in  the  Osirian  judgment  is  always  as  a  living  person,  and 
not  a  mummy.  It  is  only  in  the  age  of  greatest  confusion 
and  mixture,  under  the  Ptolemies  and  Emperors,  that 
the  mummy  is  supported  by  Anubis  into  the  presence 
of  Osiris.  The  ka  and  ba  theory  might  involve  the 
preservation  of  the  mummy  ;  and  in  the  comparatively 
late  age  of  the  New  Kingdom  the  ba  flies  down  the  tomb- 
pit  to  the  mummy,  and  the  ba  lingers  longingly  on  the 
breast  of  the  mummy  pleading  to  return  to  its  place. 
But  the  earlier  evidence  may  make  us  doubt  whether 
mummification  were  an  original  part  of  the  ka  and  ba 
theory.  Why,  for  example,  should  the  ka  require  suste- 
nance if  the  mummified  body  remains  unaltered  and 
imperishable  ?  And  at  the  beginning  of  the  IVth 
Dynasty  mummification  was  at  a  point  of  elaborate 
resemblance  to  the  living  body,  by  modelling  in  resin, 
a  system  which  rapidly  deteriorated  a  few  generations 
later  ;  such  a  history  indicates  that  it  was  a  somewhat 
recent  introduction,  whereas  the  ka  and  ba  theory  is 
probably  of  the  earliest  race  and  age,  before  the  Elysian 
or  Solar  theories.  It  seems,  then,  probable  that  the 
mummifying  may  belong  to  another  theory — that  of 


EGYPTIAN  RELIGION  29 

revivification,  with  which  it  is  always  associated  by 
writers ;  whereas  there  is  neither  place  nor  purpose  in 
any  bodily  revivification  in  the  ka  theory  or  the 
Elysian  or  Solar  theories.  There  are  then  certainly 
three,  and  perhaps  four,  views  about  the  soul  which 
have  no  original  unity,  but  rather  show  a  complete 
discordance,  apparently  due  to  different  origins  and 
races. 

19.  Now,  as  there  are  diversities  in  the  beliefs  about 
the  soul,  so  there  are  like  diversities  in  the  beliefs  about 
the  divinities.  It  is  familiar  how  confused  the  my- 
thology is  owing  to  parallel  gods — alike,  yet  distinct ;  and 
fused  gods — unalike,  yet  combined  ;  how  a  god  would 
be  in  power  at  one  time  and  rejected  at  another.  All 
this  change  is  vaguely  put  down  to  local  influences, 
which  is  only  the  first  step  in  tracing  the  causation. 
Differences  between  neighbouring  places  in  their  funda- 
mental beliefs  are  not  mere  senseless  vagaries ;  they 
imply  a  difference  between  the  people — that  is,  a  differ- 
ence in  race.  According  to  most  Egyptologists  the 
variety  of  gods  was  determined  by  the  different  beliefs 
of  every  petty  capital  of  every  province  of  Egypt.  Yet 
these  authorities  avoid  the  conclusion  that  these  gods 
belong  to  different  ancestries.  Let  us  just  see  what  this 
position  requires  of  us.  If  the  gods  arise  without 
difference  of  ancestry  in  their  worshippers — and  it  is 
admitted  that  all  the  principal  gods  are  far  prehistoric — 
then  we  have  the  view  that  there  existed  in  Egypt  a 
unified  mass  of  population,  which  had  mingled  without 
having  any  previous  mythologies  ;  and  subsequently 
in  Egypt  they  evolved  different  gods  at  many  different 
centres.  This  is  what  is  generally  tacitly  assumed, 
even  by  Maspero,  who  sees  the  perspective  of  the  history 


30  THE  DISCORDANCES   OF 

of  mythology  far  more  than  any  other  authority.  But 
such  a  view  requires  us  to  believe  that  for  long  ages, 
while  these  gods  were  being  evolved  and  brought  into 
contact  in  Egypt,  not  a  single  serious  immigration  of 
foreign  races  had  taken  place.  In  short,  that  though  the 
known  history  of  Egypt  shows  a  great  influx  of 
neighbouring  people  every  few  centuries,  we  are  asked 
to  suppose  that  such  mixtures  were  quite  insignificant 
in  all  the  far  longer  prehistoric  ages,  while  the  gods  were 
in  course  of  evolution.  Such  a  view,  thus  reduced  to 
historic  parallelism,  is  an  insult  to  our  sense  of 
probability. 

20.  That  great  mixtures  of  race  had  taken  place  in 
the  prehistoric  ages,  probably  oftener  than  once  in  a 
thousand  years,  is  practically  certain,  when  we  view  the 
known  history.  And  as  such  mixtures  always  produce 
local  diversity,  we  should  expect  to  see  differences  and 
incongruities  between  the  beliefs  of  all  the  principal, 
and  even  the  minor,  centres  of  population.  In  one  town 
the  A  tribe  would  be  strongest ;  in  the  next  the  B  tribe 
still  remained  in  power ;  on  the  opposite  side  the  C 
tribe  had  later  thrust  themselves  in.  Such  is  the  view 
which  is  forced  upon  us  by  the  historic  probabilities 
of  the  country.  Hence,  local  differences  are  only 
another  name  for  tribal  differences  and  diversities  of 
origin. 

It  may  be  said  that  we  do  not  see  such  new  gods 
being  introduced  by  the  migrations  during  historic 
times,  and  hence  we  should  not  expect  these  changes 
to  result  from  the  prehistoric  migrations.  This  is  a 
very  partial  view.  In  the  first  place  new  gods  were 
needless,  because  almost  every  race  that  could  burst 
into  Egypt  had  already  come  in  and  planted  their  gods, 


EGYPTIAN  RELIGION  31 

hence  reconquests  by  the  same  race  a  second  time 
merely  brought  forward  their  already-present  god.  To 
take  an  acknowledged  instance,  the  Libyan  conquest 
by  the  XXIInd  and  XXVIth  Dynasties  forced  Neith, 
the  Libyan  goddess,  into  prominence,  after  she  had 
almost  disappeared  in  Egypt.  When  a  really  fresh  race 
came  in  their  gods  then  appear  also  as  new  gods  in 
Egypt,  such  as  the  Syrian  gods  and  the  Greek  gods. 
Then,  moreover,  when  once  the  religion  had  become 
fixed  by  written  formulae  and  types  of  worship  on  monu- 
ments, the  beliefs  already  figured  on  the  spot  held  their 
ground  against  the  unwritten  faith  of  the  moving  immi- 
grants. 

While,  therefore,  fully  recognizing  that  the  diversities 
of  belief  were  local,  and  that  the  prominence  of  a  deity 
was  largely  due  to  the  political  importance  of  his  centre 
of  worship,  yet  we  must  logically  see  behind  these  local 
differences  the  racial  and  tribal  differences  by  which 
they  were  caused  ;  and  behind  the  political  power  of  a 
place  we  must  perceive  the  political  power  of  the  race 
who  dwelt  there,  and  whose  beliefs  were  spread  around 
by  their  political  predominance.  Amen-worship  spread 
from  Thebes,  or  Neit-worship  from  Sais,  not  merely 
because  those  places  were  the  seat  of  power,  but  because 
the  people  of  those  places  who  worshipped  Amen  and 
Neit  extended  their  power  and  dwelt  as  governors  and 
officials  in  the  rest  of  the  country.  It  is  race  and  not 
place  that  is  the  real  cause  of  change. 

21.  One  of  the  best  known  incongruities  is  the  position 
of  Set.  In  the  earliest  times  Set  and  Horus  appear  as 
co-equal  or  twin-gods  (M.E.E.,  329)  closely  associated. 
In  the  VHIth  Chapter  of  the  Book  of  the  Dead  the 
deceased,  who  is  usually  identified  with  Osiris,  states 


32  THE  DISCORDANCES  OF 

that  he  is  identical  with  Set :  while,  evidently  after 
the  antagonistic  view  of  Set  and  Horus  had  come  in, 
a  sentence  was  added  deprecating  the  wrath  of 
Horus.  Now  the  possibility  of  such  a  view  of  Set 
is  explained  by  the  earliest  history  of  Horus.  Maspero 
states  that  Isis  was  originally  the  Virgin-mother,  dwell- 
ing alone  as  a  separate  sole  goddess  at  Buto,  from  whom 
Horus  was  self -produced  (M.H.A.,  131).  The  union  of 
Osiris  to  Isis,  and  his  adoption  of  Horus,  was  a  later 
modification.  Hence  there  was  no  incongruity  in  the 
earliest  view  of  Horus  and  Set  being  honoured  side  by 
side.  But  when  Horus  became  the  step-son  of  Osiris, 
later  the  full  son  of  Osiris  himself,  he  was  bound  to  be 
antagonistic  to  Set.  That  Set  belongs  to  the  Libyans  or 
Westerns  is  probable,  because  he  is  considered  to  have 
red  hair  and  a  white  skin  ;  in  fact,  the  Tahennu,  or 
clear-race  complexion.  And  it  is  probable  that  the 
Osiris-Isis  group  is  also  of  Libyan  origin,  as  we  shall 
see  later  on. 

Hence  we  may  picture  to  ourselves  the  gods  Isis, 
Osiris,  and  Set,  as  the  three  divinities  of  different  tribes 
of  Libyans.  So  long  as  the  Isis  worshippers  and  Set 
worshippers  were  in  fraternity  and  tribal  union,  Horus 
and  Set  were  coequal  gods.  But  when  the  Osiris  wor- 
shippers, with  whom  the  Setites  were  at  feud,  united 
with  the  Isiac  tribe,  and  Osiris  was  married  to  Isis, 
it  became  the  duty  of  Horus  to  fight  Set.  Accordingly 
we  see  the  war  of  Horus  and  Set  throughout 
Egypt,  and  garrisons  of  the  followers  of  Horus  were 
established  by  the  side  of  the  principal  centres  of  Set 
worship  to  keep  down  the  Setite  tribe.  (See  Hasp., 
Etudes  ii.  324).  This  tribal  view  of  the  religious  dis- 
cordances and  changes  seems  to  be  the  only  rational 


EGYPTIAN  RELIGION  33 

cause  that  can  be  assigned.  That  tribal  wars  existed 
no  one  would  venture  to  dispute,  and  that  religious 
changes  would  ensue  from  political  changes  we  see 
exemplified  all  through  the  history  of  Egypt.  The  cause 
existed  for  such  divergences,  and  it  was  capable  of 
producing  these  divergences  :  while  no  other  reasonable 
cause  can  be  assigned,  and  the  gods  are  expressly 
represented  as  fighting  and  vanquishing  each  other's 
followers.  We  need  hardly  say  that  the  Syrian  god 
Sutekh,  which  comes  in  about  the  XlXth  Dynasty,  has 
no  connection  with  the  primitive  Egyptian  god  Set. 

22.  Another  puzzling  and  discordant  element  in  the 
mythology  is  the  goddess  Hathor.  She  is  the  most 
ubiquitous  deity  of  all.  Yet  she  is  seldom  worshipped 
alone  and  unmodified,  and  she  is  usually  identified  with 
some  other  goddess  or  with  a  female  form  of  some  god. 
Sekhet,  Neit,  lusaas,  Best,  Uazit,  Mut,  Hekt,  and  Aset 
are  all  identified  with  her  at  different  places,  and  she 
appears  as  female  forms  of  Sopd,  Behudt,  Anpu,  and 
Tanen.  She  has  no  permanent  characteristics,  no 
special  attributes.  The  uncouth  human  face  with  cow's 
ears  and  modified  cow's  horns  is  the  only  typical  form 
of  the  goddess,  and  the  cow  and  the  sistrum  are  her  only 
emblems ;  but  these  distinctions  are  not  constant. 
Worshipped  in  every  nome  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt, 
she  was  yet  one  ot  the  most  evasive  deities,  and  most 
easily  modified  and  combined. 

Let  us  reflect  on  what  this  indicates.  That  the 
worship  was  thus  general,  equally  diffused  over  the 
country,  points  to  the  country  having  been  under  a 
uniform  condition  of  subjection  to  her  worshippers. 
While  the  fact  that  at  no  centre  is  she  solely  worshipped, 
and  at  very  few  places  even  prominently,  points  to 


34  THE  DISCORDANCES   OF 

other  deities  having  been  already  in  possession  of  the 
country  when  her  devotees  spread  her  adoration. 
Where  then  are  we  to  look  for  her  native  land  ?  It  has 
been  shown  that  Hathor  was  lady  of  Punt,  and  was 
thence  introduced  into  Egypt.  And  we  may  see 
further  confirmation  of  this.  The  only  places  outside 
of  Egypt  with  which  she  is  connected  are  Punt,  Mafekt 
(Sinai) — where  the  Punites  are  very  likely  to  have  settled 
on  the  Red  Sea — and  Kapna.  This  last  is  usually 
rendered  as  equal  to  the  Gubla  or  Byblos,  but  another 
Kapna  was  in  the  land  of  Punt,  and  in  the  only  place 
where  Hathor  is  lady  of  Kapna  she  is  also  lady  of  Wawat 
on  the  Upper  Nile.  (Rec.  II.  120.)  Hence  it  is  more 
likely  that  the  Kapna  of  Hathor  is  a  district  of  Punt. 
Further,  of  Isis,  who  is  identified  at  Dendera  with 
Hathor,  it  is  said,  "  Isis  was  born  in  the  Iseum  of 
Dendera  of  Apt,  the  great  one  of  the  temple  of  Apt, 
under  the  form  of  a  woman  black  and  red/'  (M.  Dend. 
text  30.)  This  points  to  a  southern  origin.  The  Punites 
are  coloured  dark  red,  and  the  neighbouring  peoples 
black,  while  the  Asiatics  are  yellow,  and  the  Libyans 
fair.  When  we  come  to  look  to  the  nature  of  the  goddess 
we  see  further  connection.  That  Min  was  a  Punite  god 
is  most  likely,  as  his  position  at  Koptos  on  the  Red  Sea 
road  indicates,  as  well  as  his  three  colossal  statues  there, 
apparently  carved  by  a  Red  Sea  people  in  prehistoric 
time.  And  Min  was  the  great  father-god.  Hathor  is 
the  co-relative  mother-god,  she  in  whom  dwells  the  son 
Hor.  Her  character  as  the  universal  mother  is  well 
recognized,  and  is  plainly  on  a  par  with  the  idea  of  Min 
as  the  great  father.  Thus  the  two  gods  whom  we  are 
led  to  connect  with  the  Punite  race  by  their  position,  are 
similar  in  nature  and  point  to  a  worship  of  reproduction 


EGYPTIAN  RELIGION  35 

apparently  belonging  to  that  people.  Another  con- 
nection is  seen  in  the  position  of  Hathor  in  the  country. 
The  only  supreme  centre  for  her  was  at  Dendera,  which 
is  opposite  to  Koptos,  the  seat  of  Min,  and  on  the  line 
of  any  invaders  from  the  Red  Sea  into  the  Nile  valley. 

That  Hathor  was  brought  in  by  a  people  after  the 
establishment  of  the  other  deities  we  have  already 
observed.  And  this  exactly  agrees  to  her  belonging  to 
the  Punite  race  which  founded  the  dynastic  history. 
Their  great  female  divinity  they  identified  with  every 
other  goddess  that  they  met  throughout  Egypt,  and 
established  her  worship  also  as  a  local  Hathor  in  every 
nome,  calling  her  the  "  princess  of  the  gods."  The 
whole  phenomena  of  the  diffusion  of  her  worship  are 
thus  accounted  for  by  the  historical  connection  in  which 
her  origin  leads  us  to  place  her.  Therefore,  by  her  being 
stated  to  come  from  Punt,  by  the  foreign  places  to  which 
she  is  connected,  by  her  colour,  by  her  fyeing  comple- 
mentary to  Min  the  other  Punite  god,  by  the  place  of 
her  main  sanctuary,  and  by  the  peculiar  diffusion  of 
her  worship,  we  are  led  to  one  conclusion  throughout — 
that  Hathor  was  the  Punite  goddess  introduced  at 
the  beginning  of  the  dynastic  history. 

23.  Another  prominent  case  of  discordance  is  in  the 
worship  of  the  crocodile  god  Sebek.  This  was  most 
prevalent  in  the  Fayum,  "  the  lake  of  the  crocodile  "  • 
and  the  marshy,  shallow  margins  of  the  wide  lake  as  it 
then  was  must  have  been  very  favourable  to  such 
amphibia.  Up  the  Nile  other  places  were  also  devoted 
to  crocodile  worship,  such  as  Silsileh,  Ombos,  and  Nubt, 
while  at  neighbouring  towns  the  animal  was  detested 
and  attacked,  as  at  Dendera,  Apollinopolis,  and  Hera- 
cleopolis. 


36  THE  DISCORDANCES   OF 

Here  such  discordant  beliefs  could  not  be  supposed 
to  spring  up  side  by  side  amongst  a  homogeneous  people 
living  together  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  show  a  difference 
of  thought  and  of  belief  which  must  have  been  developed 
at  different  places  and  under  different  conditions. 
Sebek  was  a  creative  god  ;  being  the  largest  and  most 
intelligent  animal  of  the  water,  the  crocodile  was  the 
emblem  of  the  ruler  of  the  primordial  ocean.  And  in 
later  times  Osiris  was  identified  with  the  crocodile,  and 
appears  as  the  reptile  with  a  human  head  in  the  Fayum. 
As  it  is  impossible  for  the  crocodile  worship  to  have 
originated  outside  of  Egypt,  we  may  look  on  it  as  one 
of  the  oldest  worships  in  the  country,  as  the  people  who 
adopted  such  a  belief  cannot  have  had  any  other  very 
fixed  or  developed  worship  already  adopted.  That  it 
originated  in  the  Fayum  is  possible  from  its  permanence 
there,  from  that  being  a  great  haunt  of  crocodiles  in 
early  times,  and  from  a  western  goddess,  Neith,  being 
figured  as  suckling  two  crocodiles.  The  seats  of 
Sebek-worship  elsewhere  in  Egypt  might,  if  so,  point 
to  migrations  of  the  tribe  who  occupied  the  Fayum  in 
the  earliest  times. 

We  have  now  seen  enough  of  these  examples  of  dis- 
cordant beliefs  to  credit  the  view  that  they  are  an 
evidence  of  the  differences  of  race,  and  of  the  various 
elements  of  the  religion  having  been  introduced  by 
different  tribes  from  various  quarters,  who  had  succes- 
sively forced  their  way  into  Egypt. 

24.  Before  going  further  it  will  be  well  to  note  some 
of  the  instances  of  changes  in  the  religion,  and  of  one 
belief  altering  or  superseding  another,  which  are  already 
observed  and  acknowledged  by  the  best  students.  The 
following  illustrations  are  all  taken  from  the  studies 


EGYPTIAN  RELIGION  37 

published  by  Maspero,  who  well  recognizes  that  "  a 
religion  always  has  a  history,  at  whatever  time  after 
its  origin  we  may  view  it,"  and  that  a  study  of  isolated 
gods  must  always  precede  the  treatment  of  their  com- 
bined forms. 

Of  the  creative  gods  there  are  three — Khnum,  Sebek, 
and  Ptah — which  do  not  correspond  to  the  same  view 
of  creation,  and  reigned  over  different  worshippers,  at 
least  at  first.  They  were  completely  strangers,  and 
sometimes  enemies,  with  no  more  connection  than  had 
the  princes  of  the  very  different  districts  of  Egypt  to 
which  they  belonged.  And  even  Ptah  had  a  long  history, 
for  Tatnen  is  the  oldest  form  of  Ptah  ;  or  rather,  as  we 
should  say,  a  previous  god  of  Memphis,  who  was  absorbed 
in  the  later  god  Ptah,  and  whose  memory  was  kept  up 
by  the  compound  god  Ptah-Tatnen.  Ptah  was  alone 
at  first,  and  subsequently  Sekhet  was  brought  in  to 
the  Memphite  worship  as  the  wife  of  Ptah,  although 
her  previous  position  was  with  Atmu'  of  Heliopolis. 
Imhotep  was  at  first  an  epithet  of  Ptah,  before 
being  made  into  a  separate  god  as  the  son  of 
Ptah. 

Turning  .to  the  Heliopolitan  gods  the  changes  and 
growth  are  frequent.  Shu,  who  was  at  first  space  or 
air,  was  made  into  a  son  of  Atmu  ;  then  later  he  became 
identified  with  Atmu.  In  the  later  growth  of  the  Ra 
worship  some  kept  to  only  a  human  figure  of  Ra,  and 
a  hawk-headed  Horakhti ;  others  brought  in -new  names 
for  the  conceptions — Atmu  for  the  past  sun,  Khepra 
for  the  present  sun,  etc.  Then  these  again  became 
compounded,  as  Atmu-Harakhti-Khepra. 

At  Thebes  alterations  are  also  seen.  The  whole 
Thebaid  was  originally  subject  to  Mentu  ;  Amen  then 


38  THE  DISCORDANCES   OF 

came  forward,  and  Mentu  was  reduced  to  being  a  son 
of  Amen. 

The  gods  of  the  dead  varied  as  much  as  any.  Sokar 
at  Memphis  and  Mertseger  at  Thebes  were  the  earliest. 
The  kingdom  of  Sokar  in  the  west  was  adopted  into  the 
Book  of  Duat ;  as  also  was  the  kingdom  of  Osiris  in 
the  north,  and  in  the  stars.  And  Sokar  became  identi- 
fied with  Osiris  of  the  Delta,  they  both  being  gods  of 
the  dead.  Then  Osiris  became  also  mingled  with  Khen- 
tamenti  of  Abydos,  another  god  of  the  dead.  And 
Osiris  was  also  married  to  Isis,  and  established  the 
popular  Osirian  cycle.  After  that  came  the  combination 
of  the  Osiride  and  Sokar  myths  in  the  various  ritual  books 
of  the  future  life,  where  the  increasing  solarization  can 
be  traced  as  late  as  the  XXth  Dynasty.  As  Maspero 
says :  "  The  increasingly  intimate  connection  of  Osiris 
and  Ra,  gradually  mixed  both  myths  and  dogmas  which 
had  been  entirely  separate  at  first.  The  friends  and 
enemies  of  each  became  the  friends  and  enemies  of  the 
other,  and  lost  their  native  character  in  forming 
combined  personages,  in  whom  the  most  contradictory 
elements  were  mixed,  often  without  succeeding  in 
uniting  them/1 

Later  than  all  these  changes,  and  attempted  unifica- 
tion of  gods,  whose  nature  or  whose  territories  over- 
lapped, came  the  great  sorting  movement  of  forming 
triads  and  enneads  in  highly  artificial  orders  and 
combinations,  which  in  their  turn  led  up  to  the  idea  of 
the  unity  of  all  the  gods,  that  is  so  prominent  in  the 
later  pantheistic  views.  These  latest  ideas  put  forward 
in  the  elaborate  and  lengthy  inscriptions  of  Ptolemaic 
times  are  what  have  led  many  scholars  to  lose  sight  of  the 
several  earlier  stages  which  we  have  here  been  noticing. 


EGYPTIAN  RELIGION  39 

We  have  now  seen  how  important  the  discordances 
and  alterations  of  the  Egyptian  religion  are  for  throwing 
some  light  on  the  history  of  its  many  modifications — a 
history  which  passed  away  before  our  earliest  records, 
and  which  can  only  be  recovered  by  the  comparison  of 
different  and  contradictory  views.  In  these  we  have 
embalmed  for  study  the  only  fragments  of  the  prehistoric 
age  that  we  can  work  on  ;  and  it  is  this  which  gives  such 
study  a  value  far  beyond  that  belonging  to  the  religion 
alone.  We  gain  a  glimpse  of  the  perspective  of  the 
growth  of  mind. 


LECTURE  IV 
ANALYSIS    OF    THE    EGYPTIAN    MYTHOLOGY 

25.  To  anyone  attempting  to  look  at  first  at  the 
mythology  of  Egypt,  the  great  number  of  gods  and  their 
often  complex  and  ill-defined  attributes,   render  the 
view  most  perplexing  and  repulsive.     It  appears  almost 
impossible  to  master  the  multitude  of  details,  and  as 
if  they  had  little  reality  and  significance  when  at  last 
understood.    We     have     in     the     previous     sections 
considered   how  such   a   complex  subject   should   be 
approached,  and  what  the  laws  are  of  a  mixture  of 
religions ;   we  have  then  reviewed  the  popular  religion 
as  being  the  simplest,  and  showing  the  point  of  view  of 
the  Egyptian  mind ;   then  we  have  noted  the  discord- 
ances, the  contradictions  and  duplications,  and  the  most 
obvious  changes  in  mythology,  as  evidence  of  its  com- 
plex origin.    Lastly  we  now  turn  to  making  a  brief 
analysis  of  the  whole  mass  of  supernatural  existences 
which  were  recognized  in  Egypt,  so  as  to  gain  a  grasp  of 
the  whole  material,  and  to  be  able  to  realize  its  extent 
and  its  nature.    All  of  this  study  may  be  regarded  as 
prolegomena  to  the  treatment  of  the  mythology  in 
detail ;  but  without  such  a  consideration  of  principles, 
and  system  of  classification,  we  should  grope  helplessly 
in  the  dark,  and  feel  that  our  view  was  but  partial  and 
imperfect.     We  may  in  such  a  general  review  as  this 

40 


ANALYSIS  OP  EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY     41 

omit  much  that  is  important  and  overlook  many  beliefs 
which  were  prominent  and  familiar ;  but  at  least  we 
shall  see  the  plan  of  the  whole  field  and  realize  its  extent 
and  the  relation  of  its  parts.  It  will  then  remain  to 
explore  each  myth  and  trace  each  deity  separately,  with 
the  general  clue  in  hand  of  its  position  and  relation  to 
other  beliefs  around  it. 

For  this  general  analysis  we  may  take  Lanzone's 
Mythology  as  a  standard  list.  No  doubt  many  obscure 
and  derivative  spirits  may  yet  be  brought  to  light ; 
but  they  will  only  swell  the  least  important  section  of 
the  mythology.  The  total  number  of  gods,  spirits, 
and  sacred  beings  or  animals  in  this  record  is  about  438. 
These  may  be  classified  in  the  following  groups  : — 

Hades,  spirits  and  genii  .  .  153 

serpents  .  .  .  -35 

188 

Animals,  serpents          .  .  .  .7 

mammalia,  etc.  .  .  24 

3i 

Monsters            .....  7 

Local  and  minor  gods   .              .              .              .  71 

Abstractions     .              .              .              .              .  13 

Elemental         .....  4 

Feminine  forms  and  sons  of  gods,  derived            .  2 1 

Animal  and  human  compound  gods       .              .  14 

Gods  of  dead     .....  2 

Human  gods      .              .              .              .              .  n 

Cosmic  gods      .              .              .              .              .  1 1 

Human  gods  of  principles           ...  6 

varieties  of  Hatlior         .              .              .  51 

Foreign  gods      .....  8 


438 

26.  The  firs,t  of  these  groups  is  known  by  the  "  Book 


42  ANALYSIS  OFjTHE 

of  the  Dead/'  and  other  works  that  deal  with  the  future 
state,  such  as  the  "  Book  of  Knowing  Duat,"  with  its 
twelve  hours  of  the  solar  passage ;  the  "  Book  of 
Gates  "  or  "  Book  of  Hades/'  with  its  twelve  names 
fenced  off  by  separate  portals  ;  the  "  Book  of  the  Open- 
ing of  the  Mouth/'  and  other  ritual  works.  These  are 
mostly  of  a  comparatively  late  date,  the  "  Book  of  the 
Dead  "  being  probably  the  oldest ;  but  in  all  of  them 
the  various  stages  of  the  religion  are  mixed  and  com- 
bined as  best  they  might  be.  The  genii  that  are  met 
with  in  these  works  are  therefore  of  all  ages.  Some  like 
the  great  serpent  Apap,  and  the  great  cat  of  the  Persea 
tree,  may  belong  to  the  earliest  beliefs ;  others 
were  added  as  the  need  of  explanation  grew,  and  many 
were  probably  invented  for  the  sake  of  uniformity, 
when  the  consciousness  of  constructing  a  systematic 
guide-book  to  the  unseen  was  realized  by  the  Egyptian 
scribes  and  dogma-makers.  Doubtless  many  of  the 
genii  and  of  the  serpents  are  duplications  and  sub- 
divisions of  the  same  idea. 

27.  Of  sacred  animals  we  find  thirty-one,  of  which 
seven  are  serpents.  Four  views  of  this  animal  worship 
are  now  held.  Some  regard  the  animals  as  having 
been  first  worshipped  for  their  powers  and  unexplained 
actions,  simply  as  fellow-beings  with  man.  Another 
view  is  that  they  were  worshipped  as  exemplifying 
certain  characteristics  of  power,  fertility,  cunning,  etc. 
A  third  view  is  that  they  were  only  sacred  to  the  gods, 
and  that  they  were  not  directly  worshipped,  except 
as  a  corruption  in  late  times.  A  fourth  view  is  that  they 
were  worshipped  because  of  their  utility.  This  last 
view  is  certainly  not  solid,  as  many  of  the  animals 
worshipped  had  no  utility  to  man  in  any  way.  The 


EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY  43 

view  that  they  were  only  emblems  of  gods,  and  that 
the  worship  of  the  gods  preceded  the  animal  worship  is 
not  satisfactory.  We  see  that  the  tree  was  sacred 
before  it  was  connected  with  a  goddess,  because  many 
different  goddesses  are  united  to  tree  worship.  In 
the  same  way  different  gods  are  united  to  the  worship 
of  the  same  animals  ;  the  ram  is  adored  for  Khnum,  for 
Amen,  for  Osiris,  or  for  Neit,  according  to  the  locality  ; 
the  bull  is  connected  with  Ra,  with  Osiris,  with  Set,  or 
with  Ptah,  and  four  sacred  bulls  are  specified.  Here 
the  presumption  certainly  is  that  the  trees  and  animals 
were  sacred  already,  before  they  were  attached  to  the 
worship  of  one  god  or  other.  And,  further,  we  see 
animals  worshipped,  and  tablets  carved  to  their  honour, 
as  animals  alone,  without  any  connection  with  a  god, 
such  as  the  wagtail  and  the  cat ;  and  also  adored  in 
preference  to  the  god,  as  the  goose  of  Amen,  the  cat  of 
Neit,  and  the  rams  of  Amen.  The  view,  therefore,  that 
the  animals  were  worshipped  independently  of  the  gods, 
and  united  to  the  divine  worship  subsequently,  seems 
the  more  reasonable.  Whether  the  abstraction  of 
characteristics  preceded  animal  worship,  we  cannot  say  ; 
probably  unconsciously  it  did  so,  and  they  were  reve- 
renced for  their  being  the  greatest  exemplification  of 
various  qualities.  Mysterious  intelligence  was  also 
attributed  to  their  actions,  and  the  baboon,  the  ibis, 
the  cat,  or  the  cobra,  were  each  supposed  to  reason  like 
a  man.  Remembering  the  adoration  paid  both  to 
trees  and  to  serpents  at  present  in  Africa,  it  seems  not 
improbable  that  we  may  see  the  negro  element  in  this 
plant  and  animal  worship. 

Beside  animals,  various  monsters  were  invented  and 
worshipped ;    seven  such  are  specified. 


44  ANALYSIS  OF  THE 

28.  Then  there  comes  the  great  mass  of  local  and 
minor  deities,  who  are  only  known  in  a  few  instances, 
and  who  may  have  held  in  Egypt  much  the  same  place 
that  saints  do  in  Christianity  or  in  Islam.    There  are 
several  abstractions,  which  were  none  of  importance  ; 
such  as  the  god  of  Fishers,  of  Cultivation,  of  Corn,  of 
Wine,  of  Earth,  of  Fire,  of  Foreigners,  of  Writing,  of 
Hearing,  of  Speech,  of  Taste,  and  of  Destiny.     Most 
of  these  are  probably  of  late  invention,  and  have  no 
part  in  the  early  systems.    There  are  also  elemental 
gods,  and  those  of  Hermopolis,  the  eight  associated  with 
Tahuti.     Purely  theoretical  gods  were  invented  to  com- 
plete the  triads,  and  twenty-one  are  feminine  forms  of 
a  male  god,  or  sons  who  are  otherwise  of  no  importance. 

29.  We  have   now  passed   over  more   than   three- 
quarters  of  the  spiritual  beings  :    about  one  hundred 
remain.     Of  these  half  are  local  forms  of  Hathor,  and 
eight  are  foreign,  leaving  forty-three  as  the  number  of 
important  divinities,  the  great  gods  as  we  may  call 
them.     These  can  be  divided  into  four  great  groups  : 
the  partly-animal  gods,   the  essentially  human  gods 
(Osirian  group),  the  cosmogonic  gods  (Ra  group),  and 
the  gods  of  human  principles.     The  relative  order  of 
the  introduction  of  these  groups  is  as  here  arranged, 
so  far  as  we  can  glean  it  from  their  relations  to  each 
other.     As  we  have  already  pointed  out,  the  worship 
of  animals  probably  preceded  that  of  abstract  deities, 
and  hence  the  half-animal  gods  are  probably  older  than 
the  others.    Then  Maspero  has  shown  how  the  Osirian 
doctrine  was  modified  to  agree  to  the  solar  Ra ;   and 
that  the  heaven  created  by  Horus,  and  sustained  by  his 
four  sons,  the  pillars,  is  older  than  the  Heliopolitan  cos- 
mogony of  Ra.    The  Osirian  group  of  human  gods 


EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY  45 

belongs,  then,  to  an  older  order  of  things  than  the  cos- 
mogonic  gods.  Lastly,  the  fact  that  Ptah,  one  of  the 
gods  of  principles,  had  to  borrow  a  partner,  Sekhet,  who 
was  originally  the  mate  of  Atmu,  and  who  had  a  son, 
Nefertum,  points  to  his  being  later  than  the  Ra  group. 
And  the  diffusion  of  Hathor  worship  appears  to  belong 
to  the  latest  of  the  prehistoric  layers. 

Now,  without  entering  on  the  details  at  present,  it  is 
at  least  allowable  to  point  out  that  four  successive 
races  in  Egypt  have  been  deduced  from  the  examination 
of  the  monuments,  without  looking  to  any  relation  to 
the  religion  :  the  Negro,  the  Libyan,  the  Mesopotamian, 
the  Punite.  And  these  four  races  have  direct  links  to 
the  four  successive  classes  of  gods  which  we  have  just 
specified.  For  the  present  this  is  an  hypothesis  ;  some 
of  these  gods  can  be  identified  with  those  of  certain 
of  the  races  without  much  question,  how  far  they  all 
can  remains  yet  to  be  studied. 

30.  The  first  group,  the  partly  animal  gods,  which 
we  should  expect  to  be  linked  more  or  less  with  the  negro 
element,  are  fourteen  in  number.  Selk,  the  scorpion  ; 
Uazit  and  Nekhebt,  the  serpents  of  north  and  south  ; 
Hekt,  the  frog  of  birth  ;  Horakhti,  the  hawk  ;  Mentu, 
the  hawk ;  Tahuti,  the  ibis ;  Sebek,  the  crocodile  ; 
Taurt,  the  hippopotamus ;  Hapi,  the  bull ;  Khnum, 
the  ram ;  Un-nefer,  the  hare ;  Anpu  or  Apuat,  the 
jackal ;  Sekhet  or  Bast,  the  lion.  Each  of  these  may 
appear  in  human  form,  with  the  head  or  some  attribute 
of  the  animal,  or  at  least  standing  and  acting  as  a  human 
being.  In  this  they  are  distinct  from  the  sacred  animals. 
Apparently  of  this  same  stratum  are  the  gods  of  the 
dead,  Mertseger,  the  serpent  of  Thebes,  and  Seker  of 
Sakkara,  whose  kingdom  of  the  dead  is  older  than  that 


46  ANALYSIS  OF  THE 

of  Osiris,  and  whose  form  apart  from  other  gods  we  do 
not  know,  unless  it  be  that  of  the  mummied  hawk 
which  broods  over  his  sacred  bark  and  shrine.  With 
this  stratum  we  may  probably  also  link  the  ka  and  ba  ; 
their  purely  earthly  existence  and  their  dependence  on 
the  tree-spirit  pointing  to  their  early  position. 

31.  The  second  group  is  distinguished  by  being  linked 
together  in  the  mythology,  and  being  in  almost  every 
case  represented  under  purely  human  forms.  Isis  and 
her  son  Horus  worshipped  at  Buto,  and  Osiris,  after- 
wards united  to  her,  are  the  principal  and  typical  gods 
of  this  group.  Set — the  only  animal-headed  god  of 
the  group — is  closely  related  to  the  great  triad,  first 
as  the  fellow-god  of  Horus,  and  later  as  the  enemy  of 
Osiris  and  Horus.  The  outline  of  the  history  of  this 
change  we  have  already  noticed,  and  its  significance  as 
embodying  a  piece  of  tribal  history.  There  is  also  the 
great  Horus,  or  elder  Horus,  who  appears  to  represent 
the  heaven,  the  her,  or  upper  region,  and  whose  two 
eyes  are  the  sun  and  moon.  Very  possibly  he  was  one 
with  the  younger  Horus  originally,  who  became  posed 
as  a  son  of  Isis  in  consequence  of  some  tribal  union 
requiring  a  fusion  of  the  gods.  Nebhat  is  the  remainng 
divinity  of  this  family,  whom  some  regard  as  a  mere 
interpolation  to  provide  a  wife  to  Set. 

Another  family  of  this  same  character  is  that  of  the 
Thebaid.  Amen  is  a  human  god,  and  Mut  and  Khonsu 
are  purely  human  in  their  figures.  Anher  is  another 
god  of  the  heaven,  probably  belonging  to  a  different 
tribe  from  the  Horus  worshippers.  Net  or  Neith,  the 
great  goddess  of  Sais,  was  likewise  entirely  human. 
All  of  these  gods  are  figured  as  men  and  women,  they 
have  essentially  human  passions  and  action,  and  there  is 


EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY  47 

nothing  mystic  about  them.  That  they  form  a  different 
class  to  the  first  is  seen  by  their  duplication  :  worshippers 
of  Tahuti  had  no  need  to  invent  a  fresh  god  of  the  moon 
and  of  time,  in  Khonsu  ;  those  who  went  to  Sokar  had 
no  need  to  invent  Osiris  as  a  god  of  the  dead.  The  links 
of  this  class  are  all  to  the  western  races.  Osiris  was 
identified  with  the  worship  of  the  Dad  emblem,  lord 
of  Daddu  ;  and  this  appears  connected  with  the  south 
Libyan  god  Dadun.  The  Dionysiac  character  of 
Osiris  is  very  strong,  and  Dionysos  was  reared  in  Libya. 
Osiris  appears  to  be  the  god  of  vegetation,  the  corn  god, 
which  was  a  main  deity  of  the  white  races.  The  oracular 
character  of  Amen  and  Khonsu  is  a  western  idea,  and 
Amen  was  expressly  the  god  of  the  great  Oasis,  and  was 
worshipped  in  Laconia,  Elis,  and  Bceotia.  Neit  has 
always  been  recognized  as  a  Libyan  goddess  ;  and  the 
very  close  connection  of  her  nature  (as  the  goddess  of 
the  lance  or  arrow,  and  also  of  weaving)  links  her  with 
Athena,  who  came  from  Libya.  The  Elysian  theory  of 
the  soul  is  that  belonging  to  this  second  group. 

32.  The  next  main  group  is  that  of  the  cosmic 
gods,  of  whom  Ra  is  the  chief.  Beside  the  main  figure 
of  Ra  there  are  the  parallel  gods  Atmu,  the  sun  before 
the  world,  ever-existing ;  Khepra,  the  present  sun  ; 
and  Harakhti,  the  rising  sun.  Of  these  Ra  was  the 
direct  primitive  god,  and  Harakhti  a  popular  variant 
combined  with  the  previous  Horus  worship ;  while 
Atmu  and  Khepra  are  more  theological  gods,  never 
worshipped  by  the  people.  Neferatmu  was  a  son  of 
Atmu,  who  was  hardly  more  than  of  local  importance. 
Nut  and  Seb  were  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  Shu 
the  air  or  space  which  separates  them.  In  the  earliest 
form  it  is  Ra  who  separates  them ;  but  either  form  of 


48  ANALYSIS  OF  THE 

the  daily  rising  of  Nut  from  Seb  is  evidently  the  lifting 
of  the  fog  and  mist  of  the  Nile  valley  from  off  the  earth 
and  raising  it  up  into  the  clouds  of  the  sky.  The  sun 
does  this  by  shining  on  it,  so  Ra  separates  Seb  and  Nut ; 
while  later  the  more  abstract  idea  of  space — Shu — was 
considered  the  separator.  The  ostrich  feather,  the  hiero- 
glyph of  Shu,  is  the  most  imponderable  object  for  its 
bulk  that  could  be  selected,  and  hence  the  emblem  of 
space.  Tefnut  is  merely  complementary  to  Shu.  The 
moon-god  Aah  probably  belongs  to  this  group  ;  and  the 
other  form  of  the  sun — Aten — being  worshipped  in  the 
centre  of  Ra  influence,  belongs  to  the  same  ideas. 

These  gods,  though  human  in  form,  differ  essentially 
from  the  previous  group,  as  having  all  of  them  a  cosmic 
meaning,  and  representing  the  elements  of  nature — 
earth,  sky,  air,  and  sun.  Their  connection  with  the 
twelve  hours  is  very  marked ;  the  sun  was  always  passing 
through  the  hours  of  day  or  night,  and  every  hour  had 
a  different  nature  and  was  the  region  of  different  spirits. 
The  great  seat  of  this  worship  was  at  Heliopolis  ;  and 
that  city — the  abode  of  "  the  spirits  of  Heliopolis  " — 
was  a  centre  of  literature  and  theology.  In  this  we  see  a 
strong  kinship  to  Mesopotamia  ;  there  the  twelve  hours 
ruled  all  divisions  of  time  or  space,  the  worship  of  spirits 
or  demons  was  frequent,  and  great  libraries  were  asso- 
ciated with  the  temples.  Above  all  the  cosmic  view  of 
religion  predominated  ;  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  were 
adored,  and  the  watery  chaos  was  parallel  to  the  waters 
of  Nu,  while  the  waters  above  the  heavens  were  parallel 
to  the  solar  river  of  the  Egyptians  on  which  the  bark  of 
the  sun  was  navigated.  Of  course,  the  solar  theory  of 
the  soul  was  that  associated  with  this  religion.  The 
Mesopotamian  influence  in  Egypt  has  long  been  recog- 


EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY  49 

nized,  and  is  seen  to  be  later  than  the  Osirian.  In 
this  it  agrees  to  the  position  of  the  Mesopotamians 
invading  the  Negro-Libyan  population.  And  we  should, 
perhaps,  see  in  Heliopolis  the  centre  of  power  of  the 
Eastern  invaders. 

33.  The  fourth  class  of  gods  are  those  which  embody 
more  abstract  ideas.  Ptah  the  creator,  who  is  neither 
Atmu,  the  sun,  nor  Khnumu  the  modeller,  but  rather 
the  architect  of  the  universe,  who  puts  it  all  into  order, 
with  his  companion  Maat,  who  is  abstract  truth  and 
law.  This  is  a  very  different  view  to  that  of  any  of  the 
other  gods.  And  similar  in  idealism  is  Min  the  all-father, 
and  Hathor  the  all-mother.  Later  developments  of 
these  brought  in  Imhotep  with  Ptah,  as  a  son  represent- 
ing the  peace  and  learning  which  follows  on  law  and 
order.  And  Hathor  became  linked  with  Isis,  the 
previous  mother  goddess,  though  both  are  still  figured 
separately  side  by  side  in  the  XlXth  Dynasty ;  and 
Horus  thus  came  to  be  connected  with  the  Min-worship. 
The  general  diffusion  of  Hathor-worship  over  all  the 
country,  without  excluding  any  previous  divinity,  led 
to  special  Hathors  of  each  nome,  like  the  special 
Madonnas  of  different  towns  ;  and  to  Hathor  being 
identified  with  many  of  the  goddesses.  It  is  not  improb- 
able that  the  system  of  mummifying  belongs  to  this  class 
of  gods.  We  have  noticed  that  it  is  independent  of 
all  the  other  theories  of  the  soul,  and  was  probably  a 
later  system  ;  and  the  fact  of  the  Hathor  cow  being 
represented  as  galloping  into  the  unseen  world  bearing 
the  mummy  on  her  back,  points  to  the  mummification 
being  part  of  the  religion  of  Hathor.  Historically 
we  should  see  in  this  class  of  gods  those  of  the  latest 
prehistoric  invaders,  the  Punite  race.  Min  and  Hathor 


50  ANALYSIS  OF  THE 

we  have  already  seen  to  belong  to  that  quarter ;  and 
Ptah  is  the  same  as  the  Patekh  of  the  Phoenicians, 
another  branch  of  the  Punites. 

We  must,  however,  carefully  notice  that  this  view  of 
some  group  of  gods  having  the  same  nature,  and  belong- 
ing to  the  same  race,  does  not  at  all  imply  that  they 
were  originally  worshipped  together.  They  may  very 
probably  have  belonged  to  different  tribes  ;  and  only 
have  been  put  side  by  side  as  tribal  or  political  union 
spread.  Min  and  Ptah  may  never  have  been  worshipped 
together  until  their  tribes  entered  Egypt.  Amen  and 
Osiris  may  have  been  strangers  until  their  followers 
became  unified  in  one  land.  All  that  we  can  venture 
to  do  is  to  outline  a  broad  classification  by  general 
direction,  east,  west,  or  south,  and  gain  some  general 
idea  of  the  sequence  in  time,  without  any  hope  as  yet 
of  separating  between  the  various  tribes  of  each  quarter. 

34.  There  now  remain  to  be  considered  the  gods  which 
appear  to  be  foreign,  that  is  to  say,  which  belong  to 
invaders  who  did  not  exercise  an  influence  over  the 
whole  country.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these  is 
Bes,  the  god  of  dancing,  music,  and  luxury.  The  earliest 
of  such  figures  are  clearly  female,  and  down  to  the  latest 
age  a  female  Bes  appears  as  well  as  the  male  form.  The 
shaggy  lion's  head  is  seen  on  a  carving  of  the  Xllth 
Dynasty  to  be  a  skin  worn  on  the  head,  with  the  tail 
hanging  down  behind  ;  and  such  a  mask  was  imitated 
in  cartonnage  for  the  use  of  dancers.  How  ancient 
professional  dancers  were  in  Egypt  is  seen  in  the  Westcar 
papyrus,  where  the  goddesses  appear  as  travelling 
dancing  girls.  It  seems  then  that  Bes  originates  in 
the  type  of  a  girl  wearing  a  lion's  skin.  It  was 
considered  Arabian  in  origin,  but  has  been  connected  with 


EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY  51 

the  Denga  or  dwarf  who  is  named  as  dancing  a  sacred 
dance  in  the  Vth  and  Vlth  Dynasties.  It  seems  hard 
not  to  connect  this  with  the  lion-headed  goddess  of  the 
Arabian  nome,  Best  or  Bast,  especially  as  dancing 
festivals  were  held  in  her  honour. 

The  distinctly  Syrian  deities  are  six  :  Anaitis,  Astarte, 
Baal,  Kedesh,  Reshpu,  and  Sutekh ;  and  the  worship 
of  these  belongs  to  the  great  age  of  Syrian  mixture, 
the  XVIIIth  and  XlXth  Dynasties. 

35.  It  remains  now  to  notice  how  much  the  worship 
of  many  of  these  gods  fluctuates,  how  one  god  would 
sink,  while  others  rose  in  importance.  We  can  best  see 
this  statistically  by  the  number  of  references  to  gods 
in  various  periods ;  but  we  must  first  set  aside  those 
which  rose  in  one  age  without  any  previous  popularity, 
such  as  Amen.  Fixing  our  attention  on  the  principal 
gods  worshipped  throughout  all  ages,  and  reducing  the 
numbers  so  as  to  give  them  a  percentage  in  each  period, 
we  have  the  following  results  : — 


IVth  Vth             Vlth  Xllth  XVIII.-Am.IV.- 

Dynasty.  Dynasty.    Dynasty.  Dynasty.  Am.  III.     XX. 

Hekt           .  125                           i 

Tahuti         .         23  21            17  10              79 

Khnumu                 i  17              I          — 

Anpu           .  32                             45 

Sokar                    10  13            14  —              12 


Osiris 
Isis. 
Horus 
Neit 


5 

— 

2 

12 

8 

12 

i 

— 

2 

2 

9 

12 

10 

10 

5 

7 

18 

15 

8 

7 

5 

7 

i 

2 

Ra  .1  i  5  2  26         14 

Seb  .1  —  2  —  52 


52  ANALYSIS  OF  EGYPTIAN  MYTHOLOGY 


IVth 

Vth 

Vlth 

Xllth 

XVI  1  1  -Am.  IV.- 

Dynasty. 

Dynasty. 

Dynasty. 

Dynasty. 

Am.  III. 

XX. 

Ptah 

9 

2 

13 

2 

I 

8 

Maat 

i 

8 

5 

— 

3 

5 

Min 

5 

5 

5 

12 

i 

4 

Hathor 

25 

29 

21 

24 

15 

9 

Here  we  can  see  how  the  Osiride  and  Cosmic  gods  rose 
in  importance  as  time  went  on,  while  the  Abstract  gods 
continually  sank  on  the  whole.  This  agrees  to  the 
general  idea  that  the  later  imported  gods  have  to  yield 
their  position  gradually  to  the  older  and  more  deeply- 
rooted  faiths. 


LECTURE  V 

THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 

36.  IT  has  long  been  recognized  that  the  Egyptians 
had  a  much  more  highly  organized  conscience  than  that 
of  most  other  nations  of  early  times.     They  are  often 
spoken  of  as  a  more  moral  people  ;   but  that  phrase  is 
ambiguous,  as  it  may  refer  to  the  complexity  of  the 
conscience,  or  the  practical  conformity  to  the  conscience. 
How  far  the  Egyptians  conformed  to  their  theoretic 
standards  is   quite   a   different   question ;    but   their 
standards  were  certainly  more  definite,  and  apparently 
higher,  than  those  of  many  other  peoples.     In  many 
respects  they  are  far  higher  than  those  of  the  Greeks, 
and  approach  most  to  the  Roman  standard  after  Stoic 
philosophy  and  Christianity  had  successively  purged 
and  improved  it.     This  organized  conscience  has  left 
many  detailed  expositions  to  us,  in  the  Precepts  of 
Kagemni  and  Ptahhotep  of  the  Vth  Dynasty ;    in  the 
two  negative  confessions  or  repudiations  of  sins  before 
the  judgment  of  Osiris,  which  are  probably  much  older, 
but  only  exist  in  later  versions  ;  in  the  tablet  of  Antef 
of  the  Xllth  Dynasty   (Brit.   Mus.,   Sharpe,  ii.   83)  ; 
Instructions  of  Amenemhat  of  the  Xllth  Dynasty  ;  in 
the  maxims  of  Any  of  the  XlXth  Dynasty  ;  the  precepts 
in  a  Ptolemaic  papyrus  in  the  Louvre  (x.  9),  and  isolated 
sayings  in  the  Xlth  Dynasty  Song  of  the  Harper,  and 

53 


54  THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 

some  grave  steles.  We  are,  therefore,  able  to  study  it 
in  detail,  and  to  classify  a  mass  of  ideas  which  have 
definite  dates  affixed  to  them  as  a  minimum ;  hence 
we  obtain  a  tolerably  complete  view  of  the  Conscience 
of  the  Egyptians.  One  great  value  of  such  a  study  is 
that  it  is  dealing  with  a  people  so  much  more  advanced 
than  their  neighbours  in  such  ideas,  that  we  have  before 
us  an  internally  developing  system  rather  than  an  acci- 
dental jumble  of  imposed  ideas  from  other  sources, 
which  constitutes  the  morality  of  most  later  races. 

37.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  consider  first,  some- 
what briefly,  what  we  mean  by  conscience  :  not  by  any 
means  to  construct  an  artificial  definition  of  the  idea, 
nor  to  argue  as  to  its  limits  in  relation  to  other  concep- 
tions, for  that  would  lead  us  into  the  barren  grounds  of 
speculation.  But  rather  let  us  look  practically  at  the 
acts  of  others  around  us,  and  into  our  own  minds. 
Conscience  is  that  mass  of  the  intuitions  of  right  and 
wrong  which  are  born  in  the  structure  of  the  thoughts, 
though  they  may  often  need  development  before  the 
latent  structure  becomes  active.  A  plant  does  not  put 
out  its  leaves  and  flowers  all  at  once  ;  yet  they  are  latent, 
and  are  inevitable  if  any  development  of  growth  takes 
place.  And  thus,  perhaps,  some  can  look  back  to  a 
time  when  only  one  or  two  elements  of  conscience  were 
yet  active  in  their  minds,  such  as  a  sense  of  justice  and 
injustice,  and  they  reflected  then  that  no  act  would  seem 
wrong  or  shocking  if  it  was  not  unjust.  Yet  later  on, 
as  the  mind  grew  (and  growth  or  death  is  the  choice  to 
the  mind,  though  the  body  may  continue  an  animal 
existence),  the  various  other  elements  of  conscience 
unfolded  gradually  from  some  central  stem  (such  as 
that  of  justice)  which  had  first  sprung  up. 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE  55 

It  is  needful  to  remember  thus  that  conscience  is  an 
inherited  development,  as  much  an  inheritance  in  the 
structure  of  the  brain  as  any  other  special  modification 
is  in  the  body — needful  because  in  the  consideration 
of  the  springs  of  action  it  has  been  generally  the  habit 
to  deal  with  the  individual  as  if  he  had  a  perfectly  blank 
mind,  and  was  only  impressed  by  the  facts  of  life  around 
him  in  a  perfectly  calculating  and  unbiased  manner. 
On  the  contrary,  the  untrained  mind  teems  with  pros- 
pects of  every  kind,  possible  and  impossible,  at  every 
change  of  surrounding,  and  acts  far  more  by  impulse  and 
intuition  than  by  precise  calculations  of  theoretical 
right  or  utility.  This  is  seen  most  plainly  in  the  way- 
wardness of  children  and  savages  ;  the  ideals  of  all 
kinds  of  possibilities  are  present,  and  the  growth  of 
conscience  and  of  habit  is  not  yet  strong  enough  to 
determine  uniformly  which  opening  shall  be  followed. 
Thus  we  may  look  on  each  person  as  only  a  fragment  of 
the  common  life  of  mankind,  inheriting  in  his  brain- 
structure  a  tendency  to  certain  lines  of  action  and  certain 
choices  between  opposing  claims.  He  is  the  heir  of  all 
his  ancestors,  and  specially  of  those  nearest  to  him  ; 
for,  as  Galton  has  shown  by  physical  tests,  inheritance 
of  special  characters  rapidly  diminishes  in  each  succeed- 
ing generation,  and  there  is  a  constant  tendency  thus 
to  revert  to  an  average  type. 

38.  From  this  point  of  view  we  see  at  once  how  it  is 
that  the  utilitarian — such  as  Mill  or  Herbert  Spencer — 
can  point  triumphantly  to  the  fact  that  the  moral  ideas 
of  right  conform  to  what  is  the  greatest  utility,  though 
often  a  far-fetched  utility  to  the  race,  rather  than  utility 
directly  to  the  individual.  It  is  not,  as  he  assumes, 
that  the  individual  argues  carefully  from  utility  to 

5 


56  THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 

right ;  but,  rather,  that  the  stress  of  utility  has  through- 
out human  history  crushed  out  all  those  strains  of  thought 
that  were  least  helpful.  Starting  with  the  wild  mass  of 
wayward  minds  with  infinitely  varying  choice  of  action 
before  each,  all  those  which  were  least  useful  in  the  long 
run  went  to  the  wall,  found  difficulties  and  hindrances 
to  life  prevail  against  them,  and  died  out.  Those  minds 
whose  impulses  were  the  most  useful  and  most  regular 
and  consistent  succeeded  best,  and  hence  that  type  of 
brain  descended  to  future  generations.  In  short,  utility 
has  been  the  great  selecting  agent  in  brain  variation  as 
in  bodily  variation.  And  the  result  is  that  the  great 
mass  of  inherited  habits  of  thought,  which  we  call 
intuitions  or  conscience,  are  those  which  in  the  long 
run  are  most  useful  to  the  individual  and  to  his  com- 
munity in  general ;  those  which  will  lead  his  descendants 
most  surely  to  success  among  their  fellows,  and  which 
will  help  his  community  to  hold  its  ground  against 
others.  Here  we  have  a  complete  explanation  of  the 
often  distant  and  intricate  utility  of  some  intuition  or 
moral  principle,  which  may  be  directly  opposed  to  the 
comfort  or  even  the  well-being  of  the  individual.  A 
mental  type  of  a  community  which  produces  on  the 
average  a  certain  number  of  martyrs  to  conscience  may 
thus  ensure  to  itself  that  strength  which  may  lead  it  to 
success  over  the  fallen  bodies  of  its  saviours  ;  their  con- 
duct is  strictly  utilitarian,  though  it  would  be  impossible 
to  deduce  it  from  any  argument  of  utility  to  themselves. 
I  have  dwelt  on  this  because  it  constrains  us  in  the  most 
decisive  way  to  place  utility  as  the  blind  selecting  agent 
acting  on  the  race,  and  not  as  the  choice  of  the  individual, 
and  so  explains  the  utilitarian  action  of  the  person  apart 
from  any  argument  in  his  own  mind.  (See  Note  A.) 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE  57 

This  clears  out  of  the  way  the  imperious,  yet  sole, 
argument  against  the  reality  of  the  rule  of  intuition ; 
and  we  are  free  to  accept  what  is  to  some — perhaps  to  all 
— the  obvious  mode  of  working  of  the  mind.  We  do 
not  act  by  elaborate  calculation  of  consequences,  but 
by  a  certain  sense  of  what  seems  the  inevitable  course 
in  the  circumstances  ;  we  follow  our  inherited  intuitions, 
and  the  more  we  develop  and  unfold  them,  the  more  we 
let  them  rule  over  the  mere  impulse  of  the  momentary 
feeling,  the  safer  we  are  and  the  more  surely  are  we  in 
the  way  of  right  fulfilment.  We  are,  then,  trusting  not 
to  momentary  expediency,  but  to  the  great  growth  of 
intuition,  battered  and  lopped  and  toughened  into  its 
most  sturdy  and  useful  form  by  all  the  blasts  of  adversity 
that  countless  ancestors  have  endured,  and  by  which 
they  have  been  shaped.  This  is  Conscience. 

In  thus  briefly  glancing  over  the  ground,  as  a  mere 
explanatory  preface  to  our  view  of  Conscience  among  the 
Egyptians,  we  cannot  possibly  deal  with  the  various 
constructive  evidences  by  which  we  are  led  to  this 
general  statement :  such  as  the  examples  of  hereditary 
intuition  and  mental  processes,  apart  from  education  ; 
the  parallels  of  physical  inheritance ;  the  manifest 
growth  of  a  body  of  moral  intuition,  even  in  the  midst 
of  decaying  societies  where  everything  was  against  each 
fresh  generation ;  the  absence  of  conscience  in  most 
races  where  early  marriage  prevails ;  and  the  well- 
known  advantage  of  the  later  over  the  earlier  members 
of  the  same  family  in  their  mental  ability,  tact,  and 
intuition,  due  to  their  inheriting  a  more  developed 
brain.  But  we  have  here  indicated  that  such  a  view 
of  the  conscience,  as  a  body  of  intuition  gradually  shaped 
by  the  stress  of  hard  utility,  and  pruned  of  all  its  varieties 


58  THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 

that  were  not  permanently  successful — that  such  a  view 
is  the  key  which  fits  the  great  puzzle  of  the  strength  of 
intuition  and  the  prevalence  of  utility,  as  no  othe^r 
explanation  can  fit  it. 

39.  This  leads  to  the  practical  view  of  the  paramount 
value  of  the  proper  unfolding  of  the  inherited  intuitions, 
and  of  the  strengthening,  selecting,  and  guarding  of 
them  by  each  person  who  is  thus  the  temporary  trustee 
of  the  great  inheritance  of  the  race.  A  duty  to  this 
precious  growth  which  is  paramount  over  all  other  duties 
of  life  to  the  person,  to  the  fellow-men  to  whom  the 
individual's  character  is  the  most  valued  part  of  him, 
and  to  those  who  may  come  after.  A  rightly  organized 
intuition  of  moral  perception,  of  judgment,  and  of 
feeling,  is  worth  any  amount  of  temporizing  calcula- 
tions, which  always  have  to  deal  with  unknown  forces. 
And  this  is  indeed  most  closely  parallel  to  our  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  in  other  matters.  Probably  few,  if 
any,  persons  remember  even  a  small  part  of  what  they 
read  ;  and  yet  there  is  all  the  difference  possible  between 
a  well-read  and  an  ignorant  man.  In  what  does  this 
difference  consist  if  the  actual  words  and  facts  are  not 
remembered  ?  It  consists  in  the  education  of  his 
intuitive  knowledge,  in  shaping  and  leading  the  mind, 
so  that  without  being  able  to  quote  a  single  exact 
parallel,  he  can  yet  frame  a  correct  judgment  on  history 
or  on  present  life,  and  say  at  once  if  an  assertion  is 
likely  or  a  future  event  is  probable.  Often  a  book  is 
read — perhaps  most  books  are  read — not  to  retain  a 
single  detail  in  mind,  but  in  order  to  consciously  modify 
or  expand  the  general  mass  of  opinion  and  knowledge 
in  the  mind.  And  this  is  one  of  the  strongest  revela- 
tions to  us  of  the  vast  mass  of  organized  intuitions 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE  59 

which  we  unconsciously  bear  in  our  minds,  to  which  we 
apply  on  all  occasions,  and  by  which  we  rule  our  lives. 

40.  To  most  people  the  ideas  of  varieties  of  right  and 
wrong  are  but  vague  ;  some  things  are  judged  to  be 
always  right,  others  always  wrong,  and  many  between 
are  said  to  "  depend  upon  circumstances/'  The  whole 
subject  seems  indefinable  ;  a  sort  of  mist,  with  some 
kind  of  a  heaven  at  the  top,  and  some  kind  of  a  hell  at 
the  bottom  of  it.  And  often  there  is  a  vague  notion 
that  many  things  are  right  according  to  one  code,  and 
wrong  according  to  another  ;  a  difference  formulated 
in  the  discrepancies  between  custom,  law,  and  canon 
law. 

Yet  amid  all  this  there  is  a  general  agreement  as  to 
the  relative  scale  of  right  and  wrong  actions  in  any  one 
subject,  and  most  people  will  agree  that  one  action  is 
certainly  better  or  worse  than  another.  The  confusion 
mainly  comes  in  when  we  attempt  to  pit  a  right  of  one 
kind  against  a  wrong  of  another  kind,  as  when  we 
attempt  to  weigh  kindness  against  injustice. 

Now  if  we  can  bring  in  any  system  of  thought  in 
order  to  arrange  our  ideas  on  this  it  will  be  great  gain. 
Not  an  arbitrary  regulation,  nor  a  code  of  abstract 
notions,  nor  any  a  priori  arguments  ;  of  such  there 
have  been  far  too  many.  What  we  need  to  do  is  to 
ascertain  what  the  actual  ways  of  human  thoughts 
really  are,  and  to  what  laws  they  conform.  The  only 
way  to  begin  is  to  view  one  subject  at  a  time,  such  as 
truthfulness,  kindness,  self-restraint,  or  justice.  Of 
these  it  will  be  most  convenient  to  take  truthfulness  as 
the  example  for  discussion  ;  and  one  particular  branch 
of  that,  as  exhibited  in  honesty  towards  the  govern- 
ment, is  what  we  can  learn  more  about  than  any  other. 


60  THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 

The  first  thing  to  arrange  our  ideas  about  is  the  relative 
order  in  which  most  men  regard  degrees  of  truthfulness. 
Let  us  lay  down  certain  stages  of  falsehood  which  may 
be  generally  regarded  as  clearly  each  worse  than  the 
previous. 

Lying  to  save  many  innocent  lives, 
to  save  one  innocent  life, 

to  save  great  losses  of  property  or  character  to  others, 
to  save  great  pain  to  others, 
to  avoid  great  pain, 
to  save  family  character, 
to  gain  advantage  for  a  family, 
to  save  personal  character, 
to  gain  important  personal  advantage, 
for  moderate  gain, 
for  pleasures, 
for  sake  of  contradictions, 
for  trivial  gain, 
to  annoy  others, 

to  avoid  slight  pain  or  inconvenience, 
for  pleasure  of  deception, 
from  hatred  of  anything  going  aright. 

Here  we  should  have  something  like  a  definite  scale 
of  one  particular  virtue,  always  supposing  that  the 
directness  of  the  lie  was  equal,  say  a  plain  direct  negative 
to  a  direct  question  clearly  expected.  Of  course  many 
people  would  descend  to  a  far  lower  level  if  a  mere 
suggestion  or  innuendo  would  gain  their  end.  Now  this 
is  not  a  mere  curiosity,  or  piece  of  casuistry,  to  form  such 
a  scale  ;  it  is  like  the  earliest  thermometers,  divided 
into  "  temperate/'  "  summer  heat/'  "  blood  heat/' 
and  "  fever  heat,"  it  is  the  first  step  to  definition.  What 
point  in  the  scale  some  ancient  Greeks  would  have 
occupied  may  be  seen  in  Note  B. 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE  61 

41.  The  next  step  is  to  consider  how  many  people 
will  descend  to  each  of  these  levels.  Out  of  a  hundred 
ordinary  people  perhaps  only  one  would  refuse  to  tell  a 
lie  to  save  a  man's  life  ;  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  might 
be  truthful  in  face  of  great  pain  of  mind  or  body  ; 
perhaps  fifty  would  be  truthful  where  no  great  advan- 
tage was  to  be  gained ;  perhaps  eighty  would  resist 
the  temptation  where  only  small  gains  or  spite  was  the 
reason  ;  and  only  one  or  two  would  lie  out  of  sheer 
perversity. 

The  common  idea  probably  is  that  a  large  part  of 
our  race  are  to  be  classed  as  "  truthful/1  all  much  alike, 
and  below  that  there  are  fewer  and  fewer  truthful  folks 
found  in  increasing  "  depths  of  depravity/'  Perhaps 
those  who  would  be  reckoned  usually  as  truthful  are 
people  who  would  not  lie  to  save  themselves  great  pain, 
or  to  save  the  characters  of  their  family.  If  we  then 
call  attention  to  higher  degrees  of  truthfulness  they  are 
merely  said  to  be  "  exceptional/' 

In  short,  if  we  were  to  represent  each 
person  who  descended  to  a  particular 
level  by  a  stroke,  1,  we  should  have  so 
many  strokes  above  one  level,  so  many 
more  who  descended  lower,  so  many 
more  who  descended  lower  still,  and 
so  forth,  until  we  could  define  the  pro- 
portion of  people  who  are  included  in 
each  successive  stage  of  truthfulness 
by  an  outline  as  here  shown.  (Fig.  i.)  FlG> 

But  we  have  no  right  to  draw  a  line 
anywhere    as  the  abstract   truthfulness ;    the  higher 
grades  are  just  as  much  part  of  the  whole  series  as 
the  lower ;  and  if  it  is  true  that  very  few  persons  will 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 


limit  themselves  by  the  highest  grades,  so  it  is  also  true 
j       that  very  few  descend  to  the  lowest. 
The    extreme    cases    are    the    excep- 
tions, and  we  may  mark  them  by  a 
simple  example ;    on  the  other  hand, 
there  is  a  great  mass  of  mankind  about 
the  middle  grades,  and  we  must,  there- 
fore, have  a  great  many  strokes  there 
rr-r  (Fig.  2)  \    the  outline  then  that  defines 

1(1 1 1 1 1 1  M  the  commonness  of  different  grades  of 
lying  will  be  widest  out  in  the  middle, 
and  run  off  tapering  above  and  below. 
Now  this  approximates  to  the  result 
which  is  very  well  known  as  the  law 
of  distribution  of  errors,  or  the 
"  probability  curve/1  That  is  to  say, 
that  whenever  a  simple  quality  is 
liable  to  variation,  whether  it  be  the 
height  or  weight  of  a  large  number  of  men 
or  animals,  the  variations  of  temperature,  the  errors  of 
measurement,  or  any  other  simple  variable,  it  is  always 
found  that  the  greater  part  of  the  examples  are  in  the 
middle,  and  fewer  toward  the  ends ;  and  that  if,  for 
instance,  a  certain  number  of  men  vary  one  inch  from 
the  average  height,  there  will  be  a  fixed  proportion  that 
vary  two  inches,  and  another  fixed  proportion  that  vary 
three  inches,  and  so  forth.  So  that  the  distribution 
of  variation,  or  the  number  of  examples  that  agree  to 
each  different  standard,  always  follows  a  certain  law 
of  distribution.  So  certain  is  this  that  any  distinct 
departure  from  this  distribution  is  always  accepted 
as  proof  that  some  disturbing  cause  is  at  work  ;  a 
different  kind  of  distribution  would  be  found  for  instance 


FIG.  2. 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE  63 

in  the  height  of  soldiers,  because  all  men  below  a  certain 
standard  are  rejected. 

Is  it  possible  then  that  moral  distribution  follows  the 
same  law  as  all  other  natural  variations  ?  To  anyone 
accustomed  to  the  regularity  of  the  distribution  of  all 
other  variations,  this  would  hardly  seem  to  need  proof. 
But  to  many  persons  moral  law  is  supposed  to  be  some- 
thing so  spiritual,  and  so  outside  of  the  realm  of  force 
and  matter,  that  it  may  be  surprising  to  see  it 
treated  like  any  other  case  of  the  variations  found  in 
nature.  It  is  difficult  to  obtain  any  sufficient  mass  of 
accurate  information  on  any  subject  of  morals  or  con- 
science for  us  to  test  exactly  this  general  similarity 
that  we  have  seen  to  probably  hold  good  between  moral 
and  physical  distribution. 

42.  One  subject,  however,  promises  to  give  a  result. 
The  well-known  contributions  of  "  Conscience  Money  " 
to  the  Exchequer  afford  a  large  mass  of  statistics,  and 
I  have  dealt  with  nearly  five  thousand  amounts  received 
during  thirty  years,  the  details  of  which  I  was  permitted 
to  have  extracted  from  the  Treasury  records.  It  is 
true  that  this  only  refers  to  a  section  of  the  population, 
those  who  happen  to  escape  paying  their  legal  assess- 
ment, and  who  yet  feel  uneasy  at  not  having  done  so. 
From  certain  details  that  we  can  observe,  it  appears 
that  these  payments  are  largely  the  sums  of  continued 
accumulations  of  arrears,  rather  than  single  large  items  ; 
and  this  is  all  the  better  for  our  purpose,  as  the  amounts 
thus  represent  what  strains  the  conscience  in  different 
individuals  and  makes  them  uneasy  enough  to  take  the 
trouble,  and  make  up  their  minds,  to  give  up  the  amount 
due  to  the  Exchequer.  This  is  also  an  admirable 
subject  for  study  from  the  comparative  simplicity  of 


64  THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 

the  motives  involved.  There  is  no  influence  of  affection 
nor  of  shame,  as  the  payment  is  made  to  the  impersonal 
nation  at  large,  and  is  very  generally  anonymous,  and 
never  the  subject  of  self-advertisement  or  glorification. 
We  cannot  say  as  much  for  any  other  form  of  payment 
depending  on  the  conscience.  Moreover,  it  covers  all 
classes  of  society  except  the  very  lowest,  and  varies  as 
much  as  one  to  a  million  in  its  effects. 

When  we  come  to  treat  the  amounts  thus  received  we 
find  that  they  follow  very  closely  indeed  the  general 
law  of  the  distribution  of  variations.  The  main  excep- 
tion is  the  deficiency  from  about  £i  los.  to  £5,  and  the 
great  excess  at  £5.  This  is  readily  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  so  many  payments  are  anonymous,  and  a 
£5  note  is  one  of  the  handiest  ways  of  making  anony- 
mous payments.  That  this  facility  of  the  £5  note 
abstracts  from  the  proportion  of  lower  payments  is 
interesting  evidence  that  the  payments  are  cumulative 
amounts  and  not  mostly  single  dues.  The  man  who 
owes  over  305.  or  so  is  induced  to  hold  back  until  he 
can  send  the  convenient  £5  note.  The  many  other 
results  we  cannot  treat  of  at  present,  but  will  only  say 
that  the  more  punctilious  conscience  belongs  to  rather 
poorer  people  whose  average  is  only  £2  or  £3  due,  and 
not  £5  i6s.,  which  is  the  usual  average  due  ;  that 
conscience  is  twice  as  keen  in  March  as  it  is  in  September, 
the  economy  of  the  winter  enabling  men  to  afford  a 
conscience  better  than  when  anticipating  or  enjoying 
the  summer  holiday  ;  and  the  clearing  of  conscience  is 
largely  a  vague  affair  of  a  round  lump  sum,  not  half  the 
payments  being  at  all  exact  amounts. 

The  most  important  result,  however,  is  that  conscience 
is,  like  all  other  variables,  subject  to  the  laws  of  averages 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 


65 


and  distribution.  That  exactly  as  many  people  will 
pay  in  a  tenth  of  the  average  amount  as  pay  in  ten 
times  the  average,  as  many  payments  of  los.  as  there 
are  of  £50  ;  or  further,  as  many  people  will  pay  in  is.  6d. 
or  -g%  of  the  average  as  pay  in  £320  or  64  times  the 
average.  This  distinctive  point  of  the  law  of  probabili- 


FiG.  3. 


FIG.  4. 


ties,  the  equality  of  instances  at  points  equidistant  from 
the  average,  above  and  below  it,  is  fully  and  remarkably 
carried  out,  though  we  here  deal  with  conscience  con- 
cerning pence  on  the  one  hand  and  hundreds  of  pounds 
on  the  other.  For  some  further  details  see  Note  C. 


66 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 


43.  Having  thus  obtained  one  of  the  best  and  most 
unmixed  confirmations  that  we  can  hope  to  get  of  the 
application  of  the  laws  of  distribution  to  moral  questions, 
let  us  apply  this  system  as  a  mode  of  visualizing  and 
giving  consistency  to  our  thoughts  on  such  subjects. 
We  may  say  in  looking  at  such  a  curve  that  it  represents 

the  variations  of  mood  and 
influences  in  the  individual 
which  determine  his  good 
and  bad  acts ;  or  the 
variations  between  indivi- 
duals in  a  whole  class  or 
nation.  We  can  contrast 
rigid  and  narrow  habits 
(Fig.  3)  with  those  of  wider 
feeling  and  passion  (Fig.  4). 
We  can  represent  the 
character  of  the  morality  of 
different  men  or  different 
races  (Fig.  5) — some  (A) 
very  variable  and  reaching 
great  heights  as  well  as 
great  depths ;  some  (B) 
rather  high  as  a  whole, 
but  not  varying  so  much 
and  never  so  good  or  so  bad  as  A  ;  some  (c)  very  uniform 
but  never  worth  much. 

And  further,  this  enables  us  to  clearly  think  of  the 
effects  which  a  standard  of  conduct  may  have  on  the 
national  conscience.  Many  people  will  be  affected  by 
the  existence  of  a  standard  ;  those  who  are  naturally  a 
little  worse  than  the  standard  will  be  considerably 
drawn  to  conform  to  it ;  those  who  are  more  distant 


FIG.  5. 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 


67 


from  it  will  less  often  feel  it  possible  to  pay  attention 
to  it ;  and  those  who  are  very  far  below  it  will  not  even 
try  to  regard  it.  Also  those  who  would  otherwise  be  a 
little  better  than  the  standard  will  give  way  and  say 
that  it  is  good  enough  for  them,  while  those  far  above 
it  will  hold  to  their  own  high  level. 


FIG.  6. 


FIG.  7. 


44.  This  brings  before  us  very  forcibly  the  question 
of  the  benefit  of  a  very  high  standard,  or  one  nearer 
the  common  average.  In  the  case  of  a  very  high 
standard  the  danger  is  that  it  will  attract  such  a 
slender  portion  of  the  whole  area  of  variation  that  it 


68 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 


will  benefit  very  few  people  (Fig.  6)  ;  and,  in 
short,  be  hypocritically  concurred  in,  but  practically 
disregarded.  A  standard  nearer  to  the  average 
will  have  a  more  generally  useful  effect  (Fig.  7) ;  while 
one  even  lower  may  yet  be  more  useful,  as  in  Fig.  8. 
But  too  low  a  standard  may  do  no  good  by  not  being 
far  enough  from  the  average  to  raise  it.  Of  course, 
the  stronger  the  standard,  or  the  greater  influence 
there  is  of  religion,  shame,  good  feeling,  or  other 
motive  for  obeying  it,  the  further  it  may  be  placed  from 
the  average,  while  yet  having 
sufficient  attractive  power  to  be 
of  value  in  its  results. 

There  may  be  also  two  or 
three  different  standards  all  acting 
at  once  (Fig.  9)  ;  a  very  high 
church-going  standard,  very  sel- 
dom effective  ;  a  powerful  lower 
standard  of  trade  custom  ;  and  a 
residuum  much  lower  than  that, 
of  the  natural  character. 

And  two  or  three  standards 
may  coexist  in  one  character 
owing  to  antagonistic  motives, 
which  result  in  a  course  of  action 
which  is  often  in  extremes  (Fig. 
10).  For  instance,  on  a  basis  of 
general  good  nature  (A)  a  man 
may  have  a  strong  family  affec- 
tion (B),  but  be  extremely  avaricious  (c).  When  he 
comes  to  dealing  with  his  children  he  may  be  therefore 
in  money  matters  readily  in  extremes,  but  not  so  often 
in  a  middle  course. 


FIG.  8. 


THE  NATURE  OF  CONSCIENCE 


69 


We  have  at  least  now  seen  enough  to  be  able  to  picture 
before   us   the   variations   of   motive   and   character  ; 


FIG.  9. 


FIG.  10. 


and  we  can  thus  consider  the  nature  of  conscience  with 
a  mental  analysis  and  a  clearness  of  conception  which 
would  otherwise  be  impossible. 


LECTURE  VI 
THE  INNER  DUTIES 

45.  IN  dealing  with   nearly  two  hundred   maxims 
or  expressions  of  conscience  which  we  have  gathered 
from  Egyptian  sources,  it  is  needful  to  have  some  system 
of  classifying  them,  so  as  to  place  together  those  which 
are  similar  and  which  serve  together  to  build  up  a 
picture  of  the  Egyptian  mind  on  one  side  or  another. 
Seven  classes  are  here  separately  dealt  with,  namely, 
the  rules  and  maxims  of  (i)  the  personal  character  ; 
(2)  the   material  interests ;    (3)  the  family  duties,   all 
of  which  we  may  call  the  inner  duties  ;  while  the  outer 
duties  are  (4)  the  relations  to  equals ;  (5)  the  relations 
to  superiors ;    (6)  the  relations  to  inferiors ;    (7)  the 
duties  to  the  gods.     And  in  each  class  we  shall  deal  with 
the  general  ideas  before  noticing  the  more  particular 
and  detailed.     For  most  of  the  translations  here  I  am 
indebted  to  Mr.  Griffith,  who  feels  considerable  reserve 
about  some  of  the  renderings.     The  tablet  of  Antef 
is  from  a  copy  made  by  Mr.  Alan  Gardiner. 

46.  One  of  the  most  valuable  sources  of  our  informa- 
tion is  in  the  (5)  great  "  negative  confession  "  as  it  is 
commonly  called,  or  rather  "  repudiation  of  sins  "  as 
it  might  be  better  termed,  before  the  judgment  of  Osiris. 
It  is  probably  one  of  the  oldest  documents  that  remain 
to  us  on  this  subject,  and  is  specially  valuable,  as  it 

70 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  71 

presumably  strings  together  every  action  that  was  felt 
to  be  an  infringement  of  moral  law  at  the  time  when 
it  was  composed.  There  are  two  forms  of  this  repudia- 
tion ;  one  of  about  thirty-seven  declarations,  and 
another,  similar  in  nature,  often  repeating  the  earlier 
list,  but  of  forty-two  declarations.  The  latter  is  more 
artificial,  as  it  calls  on  a  separate  spirit  in  each  declara- 
tion ;  and  the  number  forty-two  is  probably  connected 
with  the  forty- two  judges  who  sit  with  Osiris,  and  those, 
in  turn,  with  the  division  of  Egypt  into  forty-two 
nomes. 

It  is  strange  that  there  are  no  family  duties  in  either 
declaration  ;  and  this  suggests  that  the  bond  of  the 
family  was  not  of  prominent  importance  at  the  time  of 
the  framing  of  these  lists,  but  that  such  duties  were 
considered  only  as  a  part  of  the  general  duties  to  fellow- 
beings.  Of  the  classes  of  duties  then  we  find  : 

LIST  A.  LIST  B. 

Duties  to  character         .  .  .       7  ...  1 8 

Duties  to  material  welfare  .  .       o  . . .  o 

Duties  to  family               .  .                     o  ...  o 

Duties  to  equals               .  .  .     13  ...  16 

Duties  to  inferiors            .  .                   10  ...  I 

Duties  to  superiors          .  .                     o  ...  o 

Duties  to  gods    .             .  .                    9  ...  6 

The  main  difference  between  these  two  lists  is  that 
in  the  earlier  time  the  duties  to  inferiors  were  put  more 
forward  than  the  duties  to  the  man's  own  character ; 
in  the  later  time  the  duty  to  the  development  of 
character  and  of  intuitions  was  felt  to  include  in  it  all 
that  was  needful  to  recount  as  duty  to  inferiors.  The 
two  lists  are  simply  referred  to  as  A  and  B  hereafter. 
6 


72  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

47.  The  Egyptian  felt  very  strongly  the  value  of 
strength  of  character,  and  of  self-control.  "  I  have 
not  been  weak/'  he  boldly  asserted  to  Osiris  (A.  10) 
as  one  of  the  repudiations  of  wrong-doing,  which  quali- 
fied him  for  eternal  blessing.  And  Any  says,  "  Let  not 
the  heart  despair  before  thyself,  turning  upside  down  its 
favours  (happiness)1  at  once  after  an  evil  hour  "  (60)  ; 
this  large-minded  steadfastness  is  also  enjoined  by  Any 
thus,  "  If  thou  art  good  thou  shalt  be  regarded  ;  and 
in  company  or  in  solitude  thou  findest  thy  people 
(helpers)  and  they  do  all  thy  commands/'  (34.) 
And  similarly  Any  enjoins  firm  resolutions,  "  If  thou 
goest  in  the  straight  road,  thou  shalt  reach  the  intended 
place  "  (Any,  29)  ;  and  also  "  Give  thine  eye  (look  well 
to  thyself)  ;  thy  existence  lowly  or  lofty  is  not  well 
fixed  (is  liable  to  change)  ;  go  straight  forward,  and 
thou  wilt  fill  the  way."  (Any,  44.)  There  will  be  no 
room  for  deviation  and  uncertainty  if  a  resolute  course 
is  firmly  adopted. 

Of  self -training  and  control  we  read,  "  If  thou  art 
found  good  in  the  time  of  prosperity,  when  adversity 
comes  thou  wilt  find  thyself  able  to  endure."  (Any, 
32.)  And  again,  "  Be  not  greedy  to  fill  thy  stomach, 
for  one  knows  no  reason  why  he  should  do  so  ;  when 
thou  earnest  into  existence  I  gave  thee  a  different  excel- 
lency." (Any,  42.)  Or  to  put  this  in  western  words, 
"  Yield  not  to  mere  desires  which  rest  not  upon  reason, 
for  you  were  made  for  better  things  than  that." 

Self-respect  is  also  enjoined  by  Any  :  "  If  a  man  is 
drunken,  go  not  before  him,  even  when  it  would  be  an 

1  The  words  and  phrases  in  parentheses  are  paraphrases, 
additions,  or  alternative  expressions  to  show  the  meaning  more 
clearly,  while  not  modifying  the  actual  idiom  of  the  original. 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  73 

honour  to  be  introduced  "  (6)  ;  and  also,  "  Go  not 
among  the  multitude,  in  order  that  thy  name  may  not 
be  fouled/'  (9.)  And  in  the  later  precepts  it  is  said, 
"  Make  not  a  companion  of  a  wicked  man."  (3.) 

Readiness  and  boldness  appear  in  the  early  time  of 
Ptah-hotep  :  "If  thou  findest  a  debater  in  his  moment 
(speaking  successfully)  thine  equal,  who  is  within  thy 
reach,  to  whom  thou  canst  cause  thyself  to  become 
superior,  be  not  silent  when  he  speaketh  evil ;  a  great 
thing  is  the  approval  of  the  hearers,  that  thy  name  should 
be  good  in  the  knowledge  of  the  nobles."  (3.)  And 
later  Any  says  similarly,  "  He  who  is  embarrassed  by  a 
liar  should  make  reply ;  then  god  judge th  truly,  and 
his  trespass  riseth  against  him."  (38.) 

Activity  was  also  one  of  the  great  claims  for  the  future 
blessing  :  before  Osiris  the  soul  declared,  "  I  have  not 
been  lazy  "  (B.  n),  and  "  I  have  not  been  empty  (of 
goods)."  (A.  9.)  And  similarly,  "  I  have  not  known 
vanity  (meanness  or  unprofitableness)  "  (A.  4)  ;  and 
"  I  have  not  made  bubbles."  (B.  39.)  Special  import- 
ance to  straightforwardness  was  also  given  in  the 
declaration  at  the  judgment.  "  I  have  not  acted 
perversely  instead  of  straightforwardly."  (A.  3.)  "  I 
have  not  acted  crookedly  "  (B.  7)  ;  "I  have  not  made 
confusion  "  (B.  25)  ;  "  I  have  not  been  deaf  to  the 
words  of  truth."  (B.  24.)  Thus  no  less  than  eight 
declarations  in  the  most  solemn  list  of  the  great  judg- 
ment turn  on  the  activity  and  directness  of  character, 
which  has  in  all  ages  been  a  quality  worth  even  more 
than  the  cleverness  of  subtlety. 

A  delightful  picture  is  drawn  by  Ptah-hotep  of  the 
disastrous  lack  of  common  sense,  that  is  as  well  known 
now  as  in  his  early  times.  "  Verily  the  ignorant  man 


74  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

who  hearkeneth  not,  nothing  can  be  done  to  him.  He 
seeth  knowledge  as  ignorance ;  profitable  things  as 
hurtful ;  he  maketh  every  kind  of  mistake  so  that  he 
is  reprimanded  every  day.  His  life  is  as  death  there- 
with ;  it  is  his  food.  Absurdity  of  talk  he  marvelleth 
at  as  the  knowledge  of  nobles,  dying  while  he  liveth 
every  day.  People  avoid  having  to  do  with  him,  on 
account  of  the  multitude  of  his  continual  misfortunes." 
(Ptah-hotep,  40.)  And  this  avoidance  of  fools  appears 
again  in  the  late  precept  "  Go  not  out  with  a  foolish 
man,  nor  stop  to  listen  to  his  words  "  (Precepts,  21,  22), 
and  "  Do  not  according  to  the  advice  of  a  fool."  (Pre- 
cept 4.) 

48.  But,  perhaps,  greater  stress  is  laid  upon  discre- 
tion and  quietness  than  on  any  other  qualities  of 
character.  It  is  remarkable  that  it  does  not  occur  at 
all  in  the  earlier  repudiation  of  sins,  but  is  very  promi- 
nent in  the  later  ;  in  that  we  find,  "  My  mouth  hath  not 
run  on  "  (B  17)  ;  "  My  mouth  hath  not  been  hot " 
(B.  23)  ;  "  I  have  not  quarrelled  "  (B.  29)  ;  "  My  voice 
has  not  been  voluble  in  my  speech  "  (B.  33)  ;  and  "  My 
voice  is  not  loud."  (B.  37.)  Here  five  out  of  the  forty 
pleas  of  goodness  turn  on  a  single  quality,  which  would 
hardly  appear  at  all  in  a  board-school  code  of  morals. 
Yet  such  are  the  virtues  requisite  for  the  blessed  fields 
of  Aalu  in  the  kingdom  of  Osiris.  This  same  discreet- 
ness is  urged  by  old  Ptah-hotep,  "  Let  thy  heart  be  over- 
flowing, but  let  thy  mouth  be  restrained  :  consider  how 
thou  shalt  behave  among  the  nobles.  Be  exact  in 
practice  with  thy  master  ;  act  so  that  he  shall  say, '  The 
son  of  that  man  shall  speak  to  those  that  shall  hearken  ; 
praiseworthy  also  is  he  who  formed  him/  Apply  thine 
heart  while  thou  art  speaking,  that  thou  mayest  speak 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  75 

things  of  distinction  ;  then  the  nobles  who  shall  hear  will 
say,  '  How  good  is  that  which  proceedeth  out  of  his 
mouth/  "  (Ptah-hotep,  42.)  Later  on  Antef  says,  "  I  am 
one  who  is  cool,  free  of  hastiness  of  countenance,  know- 
ing results/'  (2.)  And  Any  also  has  several  injunctions 
to  the  same  quietness.  "  Seek  silence  for  thee." 
(Any,  62.)  "  Go  not  into  the  crowd  if  thou  findest 
thyself  excited  in  the  presence  of  violence/'  (Any,  49.) 
"  Of  what  shouldest  thou  talk  daily  ?  Let  officials 
talk  of  their  affairs,  a  woman  talk  of  her  husband,  and 
every  man  talk  of  his  business/1  (Any,  30.)  And  in 
more  detail  he  says,  "  If  there  is  inquiry,  increase  not 
thy  words  ;  in  keeping  quiet  thou  wilt  do  best ;  do  not 
be  a  talker  "  (Any,  10)  ;  and  again,  "  Guard  thyself 
from  sinning  in  words,  that  they  may  not  wound  ;  a 
thing  to  be  condemned  in  the  breast  of  man  is  malicious 
gossip,  which  is  never  still.  Discard  the  man  who  errs 
(thus)  and  let  him  not  be  thy  companion/1  (Any,  16.) 
And  the  repudiation  of  sins  also  brings  in  the  condemna- 
tion of  gossip.  "  I  have  not  been  a  tale-bearer  in  busi- 
ness not  mine  own/'  (B.i8.) 

Extreme  reserve  is  inculcated  by  some  writers. 
Kagemni  says,  "  The  cautious  man  succeeds,  the  accu- 
rate man  is  praised,  to  the  man  of  silence  (even)  the 
sleeping  chamber  is  opened.  Wide  scope  hath  he  who 
is  acquiescent  in  his  speech ;  knives  are  set  against 
him  who  forceth  his  way  wrongfully."  (Kagemni  i.) 
Amenemhat  bitterly  remarks  as  a  precept  for  the  highest 
station,  "  Mankind  turn  their  heart  to  him  who  inspireth 
them  with  fear  :  fill  not  thy  heart  with  a  brother  " 
(Am.  2)  ;  and  again,  "  Keep  to  thyself  thy  own  heart, 
for  friends  exist  not  for  a  man  on  the  day  of  troubles." 
(Am.  3.)  Such  cynical  reserve  was  not,  however, 


76  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

the  Egyptian  ideal,  but  it  was  what  they  preferred  at 
least  to  weak  gossip. 

Covetousness  is  named  in  the  repudiation  of  sins. 
"  I  have  not  been  covetous  "  (B.  3)  ;  and  this  is  put  in 
a  more  concrete  form  by  Any,  "  Fill  not  thy  heart  with 
the  things  of  another ;  beware  of  this.  For  thy  own 
sake  go  not  near  the  things  of  another,  unless  he  shows 
them  himself  in  thy  house/'  (Any,  24.) 

The  evil  of  presumption  and  pride  was  met  by  remarks 
on  the  uncertainty  of  life.  Kagemni  says  :  "  Let  not 
thy  heart  be  proud  for  valour  in  the  midst  of  thy  troops. 
Beware  of  overbearingness,  for  one  knoweth  not  what 
shall  happen,  or  what  a  god  will  do  when  he  striketh." 
(Kagemni,  5.)  And  similarly  Ptah-hotep  begins : 
"  Let  not  thy  heart  be  great  because  of  thy  knowledge, 
but  converse  with  the  ignorant  as  with  the  learned  ; 
for  the  limit  of  skill  is  not  attainable,  and  there  is  no 
expert  who  is  completely  provided  with  what  is  profitable 
to  him.  Good  speech  is  more  hidden  than  are  the 
precious  stones  sought  for  by  female  slaves  amid  the 
pebbles."  (Ptah-hotep,  i.)  And  more  picturesquely 
does  Any  remark  on  the  ever  changing  nature  of  things, 
"  The  water-courses  shifted  in  past  years,  and  will 
yet  again  the  next  year.  The  large  pools  dry  up,  and 
their  shores  become  deep  cracks.  Nothing  comes  to 
man  alike.  This  is  the  reply  of  the  Mistress  of  Life/' 
(Any,  43.)  And  the  steadfast  unwavering  mind  that 
these  reflections  should  enlarge  is  held  up  as  a  heavenly 
requisite  in  the  repudiation  of  sins,  where  the  soul 
asserts,  "  I  have  not  given  way  to  anxious  care  "  (A. 
8)  ;  and  "  I  am  not  of  inconstant  mind  "  (B.  31)  ;  and 
again,  similarly,  "  I  have  not  been  wretched."  (A.  n.) 

49.  But    beside   all    these    fortifying    maxims  the 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  77 

Egyptians  had  a  keen  idea,  sometimes  coming  to  the 
surface,  that  virtue  was  not  entirely  its  own  reward, 
and  not  solely  an  end  in  itself ;  but  that  the  end  of 
right  conduct  was  right  enjoyment.  Ptah-hotep  incul- 
cated this  :  "  He  who  doth  accounts  all  day  long  hath 
not  a  pleasant  moment ;  and  yet  he  who  enjoyeth 
himself  all  day  long  doth  not  provide  for  his  house. 
The  archer  hitteth  his  mark,  and  so  doth  he  who  steereth, 
by  letting  it  alone  at  one  time  and  pulling  at  another. 
He  that  obeyeth  his  heart  shall  command/'  (Ptah- 
hotep,  250.)  And  again,  "  Follow  thy  heart  the  time 
that  thou  hast ;  do  not  more  than  is  commanded. 
Diminish  not  the  time  of  following  the  heart,  for  that 
is  abomination  to  the  kal  that  its  moment  (opportunity 
of  action)  should  be  disregarded.  Spend  not  the  time 
of  each  day  beyond  what  is  needful  for  providing  for 
thy  house.  When  possessions  are  obtained  follow  the 
heart,  for  possessions  are  not  made  of  full  use  if  (thou 
art)  weary/'  (Ptah-hotep,  10).  And  the  song  of  the 
harper  more  freely  enjoins  :  "  Follow  thy  heart  so 
long  as  thou  exist  est  .  .  .  en  joy  thyself  beyond  measure, 
let  not  thy  heart  faint,  follow  thy  desire  and  thy  happi- 
ness while  thou  art  on  earth/1  Such  doctrine  naturally 
led  too  far,  as  when  a  man  in  Ptolemaic  times  ingeniously 
places  in  his  deceased  wife's  mouth  on  her  tombstone 
the  commands  :  "  Enjoy  the  love  of  women  and  make 
holiday.  .  .  .  Thy  desire  to  drink  and  to  eat  hath 
not  ceased,  therefore  be  drunken."  But  occasional 
intoxication  does  not  seem  to  have  been  looked  on  very 
seriously,  perhaps,  just  because  it  was  so  very 
occasional ;  in  the  tomb  of  Paheri  (XVIIIth  Dynasty) 

1  For  the  consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  kat  as  shown 
here,  see  Note  D. 


78  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

one  lady  at  the  party  says  :  "  Give  me  some  wine  for 
I  am  as  dry  as  a  straw  "  ;  and  another,  approving  its 
quality,  adds,  "  I  should  like  to  drink  to  intoxication." 
50.  We  may  then  sum  up  the  personal  character 
which  the  Egyptian  strove  for,  and  even  considered 
in  many  points  to  be  essential  for  those  who  would  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  Osiris.  He  should  be  strong, 
steadfast,  and  self-respecting ;  active  and  straight- 
forward ;  quiet  and  discreet ;  and  avoid  covetousness 
and  presumption.  Yet  with  all  this,  while  striving  for 
the  highest  character,  he  was  to  keep  the  use  of  life 
before  him  and  to  avoid  miserliness  or  asceticism. 
Other  qualities  which  we  value  we  shall  notice  in  the 
relations  to  other  men  and  to  property ;  but  so  far  as 
the  solely  personal  qualities  go,  this  picture  of  the 
Egyptian  mind  is  as  fine  a  basis  of  the  principles  of 
character  as  has  been  laid  down  by  any  people.  But 
yet  we  do  not  find  any  trace  in  it  of  the  idea  of  sin,  which 
was  so  familiar  to  the  Hindus  in  early  times ;  the 
Egyptian  is  the  rather  akin  to  the  Greek  mind,  which 
sought  out  a  fair  and  noble  life  without  introspection 
or  self-reproach.  Yet  the  more  personal  sense  is  seen 
in  India  even  as  early  as  the  Rig  Veda,  where  in  the 
hymns  to  Varuna  (Ouranos)  contemporary  with  the 
XVIIIth  Egyptian  Dynasty,  or  earlier,  the  Hindu 
said  :  "  O  Varuna  !  deliver  us  from  the  sins  of  our 
fathers.  Deliver  us  from  the  sins  committed  in  our 
persons  ...  all  this  sin  is  not  wilfully  committed  by 
us.  Error  or  wine,  anger  or  dice,  or  even  thoughtless- 
ness, has  begotten  sin.  Even  an  elder  brother  leads  his 
younger  astray,  sin  is  begotten  even  in  our  dreams."1 
And  soon  after,  between  the  XlXth  and  XXIst 
1  Rig  Veda  vii.  89. 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  79 

Egyptian  Dynasties,  we  read  the  Hindu  saying : 
"  When  confessed  the  sin  becomes  less,  since  it  becomes 
truth/'1  Such  ideas,  however  familiar  to  us,  to  whom 
they  have  descended  by  way  of  Palestine,  are,  however, 
quite  foreign  to  the  Mediterranean  conscience  met  with 
in  Egypt  and  in  Greece  ;  they  belong  essentially  to  the 
ascetic  mind  that  found  no  place  in  the  compact  and 
practical  frame  of  the  excellencies  of  the  early  Egyptian, 
which  so  closely  resembles  the  character  of  the  best  of 
the  modern  Egyptians. 


MATERIAL  WELFARE 

51.  Beside  the  maxims  of  entirely  personal  character 
there  is  a  body  of  injunctions  relating  to  the  more 
material  welfare  and  conduct  which  may  be  considered 
as  a  separate  class.  Self-help  is  enjoined  by  Ptah-hotep  : 
"  If  thou  ploughest  labour  steadily  in  the  field,  that  god 
may  make  it  great  in  thy  hand.  Let  not  thy  mouth  be 
filled  at  thy  neighbour's  table.  .  .  .  Verily  he  who 
possesseth  prudence  is  as  the  possessor  of  good,  he 
holdeth  like  a  crocodile  from  the  officials.  (He  does 
not  get  into  trouble  and  have  to  give  bribes.)  Beg 
not  as  a  poor  man  from  him  who  is  without  children, 
and  make  no  boast  to  him  ;  the  father  is  important 
even  when  the  mother  that  beareth  is  wanting,  for 
another  woman  may  be  added  to  her  "  (reckon  not  on 
inheriting  from  a  childless  man,  for  he  may  take  another 
wife).  (Ptah-hotep,  9.) 

Prudence  is  enjoined  by  Any  thus  :  "  Keep  thine 
eye  open  for  fear  that  thou  shalt  go  begging  :  there  is 
1  Satapatha  Brahmana  ii.  5,  2,  20. 


80  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

no  man,  if  he  be  often  lazy  (that  shall  escape  want)  " 
(Any,  21),  and  seizing  opportunities  also — "  If  the  hour 
be  past,  one  seeks  to  save  another/'  (Any,  4.) 

Reserve  and  not  trusting  to  others  appear  also  in 
Any's  sayings,  "  Give  not  over-much  freedom  to  a  man 
in  thy  house.  When  thou  comest  in  and  thou  hearest 
of  his  presence,  thou  art  saluted  by  his  mouth,  thou  art 
told  of  his  purpose  and  talking  is  done  "  (Any,  45)  ; 
and  in  the  bitter  saying,  "  Thy  entering  into  a  village 
begins  with  acclamations ;  at  thy  going  out  thou  art 
saved  by  thy  hand."  (Any,  64.) 

A  curious  piece  of  worldly  wisdom  lies  in  the  advice 
to  imitate  successful  men.  "  If  thou  failest,  follow  a 
successful  man  ;  let  all  thy  conduct  be  good  before  god. 
When  thou  knowest  that  a  small  man  hath  advanced, 
let  not  thine  heart  be  proud  toward  him  by  reason  of 
what  thou  knowest  of  him  ;  to  a  man  who  hath  advanced 
be  respectful  in  proportion  to  what  hath  arrived  to 
him,  for  behold  things  do  not  come  of  themselves,  it 
is  their  law  for  those  whom  they  love.  Verily  he  who 
hath  risen  he  hath  been  prudent  for  himself  ;  it  is  god 
that  maketh  his  success,  and  he  would  punish  him  if  he 
were  indolent."  (Ptah-hotep,  10.)  "  Always  do  busi- 
ness with  lucky  people  "  is  a  well-known  modern  maxim. 

Of  the  value  of  knowledge,  above  the  power  of  con- 
nections and  influence,  Any  speaks  thus  :  "If  thou  art 
able  in  the  writings,  having  penetrated  into  the  writings, 
put  them  in  thy  heart,  then  all  that  thou  sayest  will  be 
perfected.  If  a  scribe  is  employed  in  any  profession 
he  speaks  according  to  the  writings  (Precedents !). 
There  is  no  son  to  the  chief  of  the  treasury,  there  is  no 
heir  to  the  chief  of  the  seal  (such  officer  must  be  fitted 
by  ability  and  not  by  influence).  The  great  appreciate 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  81 

the  scribe,  and  his  hand  is  his  profession  and  cannot  be 
given  to  children  ;  their  misery  (of  the  great)  is  his  good, 
their  greatness  is  his  protection/'  (35.)  It  is  familiar 
to  us  how  true  this  last  sentence  is  of  our  scribes,  the 
lawyers.  But  to  feel  the  force  of  this  let  us  turn  to  a 
community  in  which  the  scribe  is  in  full  sway.  Writing 
of  Emin  Pasha's  officials,  Mr.  Jephson  says,  "  These 
soldiers  were  so  foolish  ;  again  and  again  they  found 
themselves  tricked  by  the  clerks.  .  .  .  The  Egyptian 
clerks  held  the  whole  of  these  ignorant  Sudani  officers 
and  men  in  their  hands  ;  they  wrote  all  sorts  of  things, 
to  which  the  Sudanis,  who  could  neither  read  nor  write, 
put  their  seals/' 

A  conciliatory  and  peaceable  manner  was  much 
valued ;  but  all  the  injunctions  come  from  Any  in 
the  XlXth  Dynasty,  and  none  from  earlier  times. 
"  As  the  inside  of  man  is  like  a  granary,  full  of  all  kinds 
of  replies,  choose  to  thee  the  good,  speak  well,  as  there 
is  abomination  within  thee.  To  reply  violently  is  as 
lifting  a  stick.  But  speak  with  the  sweetness  of  a 
lover.  .  .  /'  (37.)  "  One  doth  not  get  good  things 
when  one  saith  evil  things/'  (28.)  "  Lift  not  up  thy 
heart  over  the  dissipated  man  so  that  he  can  find  speech 
(against  thee).  The  statements  of  thy  mouth  go  round 
quickly  if  thou  repeat  them.  Do  not  make  enemies ; 
the  ruin  of  a  man  is  in  his  tongue  ;  guard  thyself  that 
thou  make  no  loss."  (36.)  "  Do  not  talk  folly  to  all 
who  come  ;  the  word  of  the  day  of  the  gossiping  will 
turn  thy  house  upside  down."  (31.)  "  Hold  thyself 
far  from  rebels.  He  whose  heart  controls  his  mouth 
amongst  the  soldiers  will  certainly  not  be  taken  to  the 
courts,  nor  be  bound,  nor  know  that  which  conciliates 
(presents)."  (51.) 


82  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

Covetousness  is  the  fault  particularly  noted  by  Ptah- 
hotep,  and  he  reminds  one  painfully  of  the  failing  of  the 
present  Egyptian.  "  If  thou  desirest  thy  going  to  be 
good,  take  thyself  from  all  evil,  beware  of  any  covetous 
aim.  That  is  as  the  painful  disease  of  colic.  He  who 
entereth  on  it  is  not  successful.  It  embroileth  fathers 
and  mothers  with  the  mother's  brothers,  it  separateth 
wife  and  husband.  It  is  a  thing  that  taketh  to  itself 
all  evils,  a  bundle  of  all  wickedness.  A  man  liveth  long 
whose  rule  is  justice,  who  goeth  according  to  its  move- 
ments. He  maketh  a  property  thereby,  while  a  covetous 
man  hath  no  house."  (19.)  Any  remarks  more  on  the 
need  of  not  expecting  to  get  the  best  of  things.  "  Build 
thyself  a  house  if  thou  dislike  to  live  in  common.  Do 
not  say  '  This  is  a  part  of  the  house  which  has  come  to 
me  by  inheritance  from  my  father  and  my  mother 
who  are  in  the  tomb  '  :  for  if  thou  comest  to  divide  it 
with  thy  brother  thy  part  will  be  the  store-rooms/'  (25.) 

Commercial  credit  was  much  valued,  more  than  we 
should  expect  in  such  a  community.  "  Know  thy 
tradesmen,  for  when  thy  affairs  are  unsuccessful  thy 
good  reputation  with  thy  friends  is  a  channel  well  filled, 
it  is  more  important  than  a  man's  wealth.  The  property 
of  one  belongeth  to  another.  A  profitable  thing  is  the 
good  reputation  of  a  man's  son  to  him.  The  nature 
is  better  than  the  memory  (acquirements)."  (Ptah- 
hotep,  35.) 

The  avoidance  of  drink  and  of  luxury  is  dwelt  on  at 
length  by  Any,  and  was,  doubtless,  a  needful  warning 
in  the  XlXth  Dynasty.  "  Do  not  be  engrossed  in  the 
house  where  beer  is  drunk  ;  for  it  is  evil  that  words  of 
another  meaning  come  from  thy  mouth  without  thy 
being  aware  of  having  said  them, — and  that  in  falling 


THE   INNER  DUTIES  83 

thy  limbs  are  broken  without  any  person  having  laid 
hand  on  thee — and  that  thy  boon  companions  get  up 
and  say  '  Turn  out  this  drunkard/ — and  when  one  comes 
to  blame  thee  they  find  thee  lying  on  the  ground  like  a 
little  child/'  (13.)  And  of  the  more  refined  pleasures 
he  says,  "  There  has  been  made  for  thee  a  f easting-place  ; 
the  hedges  have  been  put  for  thee  around  that  which 
has  been  cultivated  by  the  hoe  for  thee  ;  there  have  been 
planted  for  thee  in  the  inner  parts  sycomores,  which 
join  all  the  lands  belonging  to  thy  house  ;  thou  fillest 
thy  hand  with  all  flowers  which  thine  eyes  sees.  And 
one  becomes  weakened  in  the  midst  of  all  these,  and 
happy  is  he  who  shall  not  abandon  them/'  (Any,  23.) 

52.  Lastly,  the  uncertainty  of  life  is  strongly  urged 
by  Any.  "  Put  this  aim  before  thee,  to  reach  a  worthy 
old  age,  so  that  thou  may  be  found  to  have  completed 
thy  house  which  is  in  the  funereal  valley,  on  the  morning 
of  burying  thy  body.  Put  this  before  thee  in  all  the 
business  which  thine  eye  considers.  When  thou  shalt 
be  thus  an  old  man,  thou  shalt  lie  down  in  the  midst  of 
them.  There  shall  be  no  surprise  to  him  who  does  well, 
he  is  prepared  ;  thus  when  the  messenger  shall  come  to 
take  thee,  he  shall  find  one  who  is  ready.  Verily,  thou 
shalt  not  have  time  to  speak,  for  when  he  comes  it 
shall  be  suddenly.  Do  not  say,  like  a  young  man, 
'  Take  thine  ease,  for  thou  shalt  not  know  death/ 
When  death  cometh  he  will  seize  the  infant  who  is  in 
its  mother's  arms  as  he  does  him  who  has  made  an  old 
age.  Behold  I  have  now  told  thee  excellent  things  to  be 
considered  in  thy  heart,  do  them  and  thou  shalt  become 
a  good  man  and  all  evils  shall  be  far  from  thee."  (Any, 

15.) 

Thus  the  main  points  of  character  in  external  matters 


84  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

were  self-help,  prudence,  and  respect  for  success  ;  the 
value  of  knowledge,  and  of  conciliation  and  fair  speech 
for  a  hold  on  other  men  ;  avoiding  the  taint  of  covetous- 
ness,  and  keeping  good  credit ;  not  being  tied  by  mere 
pleasures,  and  being  always  ready  to  resign  life.  In  all 
this  the  ancient  Egyptian  is  much  like  the  modern 
fellah ;  both  accept  their  place  in  the  world  readily, 
and  enjoy  it  quietly  without  being  overweighted  by 
duty.  Neither  of  these  know  anything  of  the  Western 
sense  of  the  terrible  responsibilities  of  life,  and  the 
tyranny  of  the  conscience.  They  simply  enjoy  living 
without  being  too  particular,  and  lay  great  stress  on 
making  it  as  pleasant  as  possible  to  other  people.  Their 
aim  was  to  be  easy,  good-natured,  quiet  gentlemen,  who 
made  life  as  agreeable  as  they  could  all  round.  And 
though  the  ideal  was  not  a  very  high  one,  it  was  not  bad 
for  a  warm  climate  ;  and  it  may  compare  well  with  the 
actual  practice  of  our  own  land  or  any  other. 


FAMILY  DUTIES 

53.  The  position  of  women  was  always  an  important 
one  in  Egypt,  as  the  social  system  was  matriarchal  in  the 
early  times,  and  continued  to  place  property  in  the 
hands  of  women  throughout  the  history.  Even  the 
strongly  patriarchal  Roman  law  and  the  power  of  Islam 
did  not  root  out  this,  as  in  Makrisi's  time  a  Copt  always 
said,  in  selling  anything,  "  with  my  wife's  permission  "  ; 
and  to  the  present  time  in  Upper  Egypt  women  are  the 
treasurers  and  misers  of  the  household.  Yet  the 
relation  was  apparently  much  on  the  same  footing  as 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  85 

other  business,  and  has  little  of  the  family  character ; 
nor  did  it  produce  any  large  number  of  precepts. 

Throughout  all  the  earlier  history  a  woman  who  had 
property  was  always  mistress  of  the  house,  and  her 
husband  was  a  sort  of  boarder  or  visitor,  who  had  to 
keep  up  the  establishment.  This  is  seen  even  in  the 
XlXth  Dynasty,  where  Any  writes,  "  Be  not  rude  to  a 
woman  in  her  house  if  thou  know  her  thoroughly.  Do 
not  say,  '  Where  is  that  ?  bring  it  to  me/  when  she 
hath  put  it  in  its  right  place,  and  thine  eye  hath  seen  it ; 
when  thou  art  silent  thou  knowest  her  qualities,  and  it 
is  a  joy  for  thine  hand  to  be  with  her.  There  are  many 
who  understand  not  how  a  man  should  act  if  he  wish 
to  bring  misfortune  into  her  house,  and  who  know  not 
how  to  find  out  her  conduct  in  all  ways.  The  man  who 
is  strong  of  heart  is  soon  master  in  her  house/'  (Any, 
56.)  And  even  in  the  Ptolemaic  times  marriage  con- 
tracts made  over  all  possible  property  of  the  man  entirely 
to  the  woman. 

In  most  nations,  however,  there  have  been  several 
legal  forms  of  marriage  side  by  side  ;  in  ancient  India 
and  in  Roman  law  this  was  conspicuous.  Probably 
the  same  diversity  existed  in  Egypt,  depending  on  the 
question  of  whether  the  woman  had  property  of  her 
own  to  begin  with.  In  Ptah-hotep  we  find :  "If 
thou  art  successful  and  hast  furnished  thy  house  and 
lovest  the  wife  of  thy  bosom,  then  fill  her  stomach  and 
clothe  her  back.  The  medicine  for  her  body  is  oil. 
Make  glad  her  heart  during  the  time  thou  hast  that. 
She  is  a  field  profitable  to  its  owner/'  (21.)  In  later 
times  the  Ptolemaic  precepts  say,  "  May  it  not  happen 
to  thee  to  maltreat  thy  wife,  whose  strength  is  less 
than  thine  ;  but  may  she  find  in  thee  a  protector/' 


86  THE  INNER  DUTIES 

(Precepts,   8.)     Here  the  husband  is   presumed  to  be 
independent,  and  to  be  master. 

Irregularities  are  considered  by  Ptah-hotep  to  demand 
at  least  compensatory  kindness.     "  If  thou  makest  a 
woman  ashamed,  wanton  of  heart,  whom  her  fellow 
townspeople  know  to  be  under  two  laws  (in  an  ambiguous 
position)  ;  be  kind  to  her  for  a  season,  send  her  not  away, 
let  her  have  food  to  eat.    The  wantonness  of  her  heart 
appreciateth  a  straight  path."     (Ptah-hotep,  37.)     But 
he  warns  most  strongly  against  a  corrupt  life.    "  If 
thou  wishest  to  prolong  friendship  in  a  house  into  which 
thou  enterest  as  master,  as  brother,  as  friend,  in  any 
place  that  thou  enterest  beware  of  approaching  to 
women ;    no  place  in  which  that  is  done  prospereth. 
The  face  is  not  watchful  in  attaining  it  (pleasures)  ; 
a  thousand  men  are  injured  in  order  to  be  profited  for 
a  little  moment,  like  a  dream,  by  tasting  which  death 
is  reached."     (Ptah-hotep,    18.)    Any  similarly  says, 
"  Follow  not  after  a  woman,  and  allow  not  that  she 
occupy  thy  heart."     (Any,  57.)    And  of  the  wandering 
professional  he  says,  "  Keep  thyself  from  the  strange 
woman,  who  is  not  known  in  her  town.     Look  not  on 
her  when  she  cometh,  and  know  her  not,  and  fill  not 
thy  heart  with  her.    She  is  a  whirlpool  in  deep  water, 
the  vortex  of  which  is  not  known.    The  woman  whose 
husband  is  afar  writeth  to  thee  daily ;   when  none  is 
there  to  see  her  she  standeth  and  spreadeth  her  snare  ; 
sin  unto  death  it  is  to  hearken  thereto,  even  when  she 
shall  not  have  accomplished  her  plan  in  reality.     Men 
do  all  crimes  for  this  alone."     (Any,  8.) 

In  the  qualifications  for  the  kingdom  of  Osiris  the 
moral  law  was  early  laid  down.  In  the  earlier  repudiation 
it  appears  to  be  only  a  trespass  against  the  sacred 


THE  INNER  DUTIES  87 

property,  "  I  have  not  committed  fornication  nor 
impurity,  in  what  was  sacred  to  the  god  of  my  city." 
(A.  22.)  But  in  the  later  repudiation  this  is  divided 
into  three  general  propositions.  "  I  have  not  committed 
adultery  with  another  man's  wife  "  (B.  19)  ;  "  I  have 
not  been  impure  "  (B.  20)  ;  "I  have  not  been  given  to 
unnatural  lust/'  (B.  27.) 

54.  Of  the  parental  and  filial  duties  there  is  not  much 
said,  compared  with  the  space  they  fill  in  the  systems 
of  the  further  east.  There  is  not  a  single  condition 
laid  down  on  these  duties  in  the  judgment  before  Osiris  ; 
and  according  to  these  earliest  codes  a  man  had  no 
stronger  duties  to  his  parents  than  to  any  other  persons. 
The  early  moralists,  however,  treat  of  such  duties  to 
some  extent,  but  they  again  almost  disappear  in  the 
later  writers.  As  compared  with  the  code  of  harsher 
climates  this  may  be  due  to  the  small  amount  of  cost 
and  care  of  children  ;  and  as  compared  with  other 
eastern  lands,  the  provision  of  offerings  in  semblance  by 
the  Egyptians  in  the  tomb  left  little  place  for  the  urgency 
of  filial  duties  in  maintaining  continual  supplies  for 
the  deceased.  It  is  at  least  a  curious  lack,  contrary 
to  what  might  be  expected  in  the  Egyptian  code.  We 
read  in  Kagemni  of  the  "  man  devoid  of  sociability/' 
that  he  is  "  rude  to  his  mother  and  to  his  people  " 
(Kagemni,  4)  ;  and  the  late  Precepts  echo  this,  "  Make 
it  not  in  the  heart  of  a  mother  to  enter  into  bitterness." 
(i.)  And  in  Any  we  specially  read  of  the  long  cares  of 
a  mother,  and  the  consequent  duty  to  do  the  same  for 
the  next  generation.  (Any,  40.)  He  enjoins  the  duty 
of  funeral  offerings :  "  Offer  water  to  thy  father  and 
thy  mother  who  rest  in  the  valley  (of  tombs)  ;  see  to 
the  water,  and  offer  the  divine  things  which  are  said 

7 


88  THE   INNER   DUTIES 

to  be  acceptable.  Forget  it  not  when  thou  art  far  off ; 
if  thou  dost  this  thy  son  shall  also  do  the  same  for  thee." 
(Any,  12.) 

The  value  of  paternal  precepts  is  also  dwelt  on.  "  If 
the  son  of  a  man  receive  what  his  father  saith,  no  plan 
of  his  shall  fail.  He  whom  thou  teachest  as  thy  son, 
or  the  listener  that  is  successful  in  the  heart  of  the  nobles, 
he  guideth  his  mouth  according  to  what  he  hath  been 
told.  ...  He  faileth  that  entereth  without  hearing, 
He  that  knoweth,  on  the  next  day  is  established  ; 
he  who  is  ignorant  is  crushed/'  (Ptah-hotep,  39.) 
"  The  son  that  hearkeneth  is  a  follower  of  Horus  ; 
there  is  good  for  him  when  he  hath  hearkened  ;  he 
groweth  old,  he  reacheth  amakh,  he  telleth  the  like  to 
his  children,  renewing  the  teaching  of  his  father.  Every 
man  teacheth  as  he  hath  performed  ;  he  telleth  the 
like  to  his  sons  that  they  may  tell  it  again  to  their 
children."  (Ptah-hotep,  41.)  "  Do  according  to  that 
which  thy  master  telleth  thee.  How  excellent  to  a 
man  is  the  teaching  of  his  father,  out  of  whom  he  hath 
come,  out  of  his  very  body,  and  who  spoke  unto  him 
while  he  was  yet  altogether  in  his  loins.  Greater  is 
what  hath  been  done  unto  him,  than  what  hath  been 
said  unto  him.  Behold  a  good  son  that  god  giveth 
doeth  beyond  what  he  is  told  for  his  master  ;  he  doeth 
right,  doing  heartily,  even  as  thou  hast  come  unto 
me.  .  .  ."  (Ptah-hotep,  43.)  The  inheritance  of 
qualities,  and  their  importance  above  education,  is 
here  well  marked. 

The  duties  to  the  children  are  also  enforced.  Any 
says,  "  Take  to  thyself  a  wife  when  young,  that  she  may 
give  thee  a  son  ;  being  thine,  a  child  to  thee,  when  thou 
art  a  young  man,  is  a  witness  that  this  is  a  good  man's 


THE   INNER  DUTIES  89 

deed,  of  one  whom  many  will  praise  the  more  for  his 
son."  (i.)  And  Ptah-hotep  says,  "  If  thou  art  a 
successful  man,  and  thou  makest  a  son  by  god's 
grace,  if  he  is  accurate,  goeth  again  in  thy  way, 
and  attendeth  to  thy  business  on  the  proper  occa- 
sion, do  unto  him  every  good  thing,  for  he  is  thy  own 
son,  to  whom  it  belongeth  that  thy  ka  begat ;  estrange 
not  thy  heart  from  him."  (Ptah-hotep,  12.)  And  in 
the  late  precepts  the  duties  and  care  for  sons  are  also 
repeated,  though  the  strong  notion  of  continuity  of 
family  occupation  and  tradition  seems  to  have  gone. 
"  May  it  not  happen  to  thee  to  cause  thy  infant  to  suffer 
if  he  be  weak,  but  assist  him/1  (Precepts,  14.)  "  Do 
not  abandon  one  son  to  another  of  thy  sons,  who  is 
stronger  or  more  courageous."  (Precepts,  15.)  And 
this  control  extended  into  maturity,  for  we  read,  "  Do 
not  allow  thy  son  to  be  familiar  with  a  married  woman." 
(Precepts,  18.) 


LECTURE  VII 
THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

RELATIONS  TO  EQUALS 

55.  THE  more  general  duties  to  equals  occupy  a  large 
part  of  the  repudiation  of  sins.  The  earlier  list  says, 
"  I  have  not  murdered  "  (A.  16),  and  "  I  have  not  com- 
manded murder  "  (A.  17)  ;  and  the  second  list  states, 
"  I  have  not  slain  men."  (B.  5.)  In  the  late  precepts 
there  appears  the  higher  command,  "  Do  not  save  thy 
life  at  the  cost  of  that  of  another/'  (Precepts,  12.) 

The  general  statement  with  which  the  earlier  repu- 
diation opens/'  I  have  not  done  injury  to  men"  (A.  i), 
is  amplified  into  several  different  declarations  in  the 
later  list.  "  I  have  not  done  injustice  "  (B.  i)  opens 
the  second  list,  and  further  it  declares,  "  I  have  not 
robbed  "  (B.  2),  "  I  have  not  stolen  "  (B.  14  and  15),  "  I 
have  not  been  a  pilferer."  (B.  16.)  Special  forms  of 
dishonesty  are  detailed  :  "I  have  not  added  to  nor 
diminished  the  measures  of  grain  (A.  23),  and  in  the 
second  list,  "  I  have  not  diminished  the  corn  measure  " 
(B.  6),  "  I  have  not  diminished  the  palm  measure  " 
(A.  24),  "  I  have  not  falsified  the  cubit  of  land  "  (A.  25), 
"  I  have  not  added  to  the  weight  of  the  balance  "  (A.  26), 
"  I  have  not  nullified  the  plummet  of  the  scales."  (A. 
260.)  The  sins  of  Egyptian  agriculture  are  named  : 

90 


THE  OUTER  DUTIES  91 

"  I  have  not  stopped  water  in  its  season  "  (A.  31),  "  I 
have  not  dammed  running  water/'  (A.  32.) 

A  very  strange  repudiation  next  appears  which  seems 
as  if  fire  was  looked  on  as  having  a  separate  being.  "  I 
have  not  quenched  fire  in  its  moment/'  i.e.,  when  burn- 
ing up.  (A.  33.)  Possibly  fire  was  looked  on  as  a 
portion  of  the  sun-god,  who  would  be  offended  at  being 
thwarted. 

The  earlier  repudiation  does  not  name  falsehood, 
but  the  later  says,  "  I  have  not  spoken  falsehood  " 
(B.  9),  and  "  I  have  not  deceived  nor  done  ill."  (B.  34.) 

56.  Consideration  for  others  is  strongly  put  forward. 
"  Look  not  a  second  time  on  what  thine  eye  has  seen  in 
thine  house ;  and  being  silent  do  not  let  it  be  openly 
spoken  of  by  another/'  (Any,  7.)  In  the  second  repu- 
diation of  sins  we  find,  "  I  have  not  made  (unjust) 
preferences  "  (B.  40),  "  I  have  not  played  the  rich 
man,  except  in  my  own  things  "  (B.  41),  "  I  am  not  of  an 
aggressive  hand."  (B.  30.)  Antef  claims,  "  I  am  one 
that  smooths  difficulties,  respecting  (?)  a  name,  divining 
(?)  what  is  in  the  heart."  (3).  "  I  am  one  prudent  in 
preventing  and  easing,  quieting  the  mourner  with 
pleasant  speech."  (4.) 

Liberality  was  enjoined,  as  in  the  Song  of  the  Harper 
to  Neferhotep,  "  Give  bread  to  him  who  is  without  a 
plot  of  land  "  ;  and  the  second  repudiation  has,  "  I  have 
not  been  niggardly  in  grain."  (B.  14.)  While  Ptah- 
hotep  requires  that  liberality  should  be  genial — "  Let 
thy  face  be  shining  the  time  that  thou  hast  for  a  feast ; 
verily  that  which  cometh  out  of  the  store-chamber  doth 
not  go  back  again,  but  is  bread  for  apportionment ; 
and  he  that  is  niggardly  is  an  accuser,  empty  is  his 
belly."  (Ptah-hotep,  34.) 


92  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

The  general  duties  of  goodwill  and  kindness  to  men 
are  often  repeated.  In  the  earlier  repudiation  we  find, 
"  I  have  not  caused  suffering  to  men  "  (A.  18),  "  I  have 
not  done  mischief  "  (A.  5)  ;  while  in  the  later  list  this 
is  repeated  as  "  I  have  not  caused  weeping  "  (B.  26), 
"  I  have  not  made  a  disturbance  "  (B.  21),  "  I  have  not 
borne  a  grudge  "  (B.  28).  Violent  and  harsh  conduct 
is  specially  condemned  by  the  moralists,  "  Make  not 
terror  amongst  men,  god  punisheth  the  like  .  .  .  never 
did  violence  prosper/*  (Ptah-hotep,  6.)  And  "  If 
thy  conciliatory  speech  is  good,  they  shall  incline  the 
heart  to  take  it."  (Any,  61.)  "  I  am  good,  not  hasty 
of  countenance,  not  pulling  a  man  headlong,"  (?)  says 
Antef.  (16.)  "  Let  no  punishment  be  done  when  a 
noble  is  busy  ;  do  not  depress  the  heart  of  him  that  is 
already  laden."  (Ptah-hotep,  26.)  This  last  maxim 
gives  a  good  view  of  the  Egyptian  attitude  of  mind 
towards  punishments  ;  they  were  no  vindictive  pleasure 
to  the  Egyptians ;  on  the  contrary,  they  gave  a 
sympathetic  pain  to  them,  and  the  sight  was  so 
unpleasant  and  depressing  that  it  should  be  postponed 
rather  than  annoy  a  high  official  who  was  already  worried 
with  business.  It  may  be  doubted  if  any  ancient  people 
have  had  such  an  aversion  to  causing  pain  or  distress 
as  is  shown  by  the  genial  and  kindly  upper  classes  of  the 
Vth  Dynasty.  It  is  the  very  antithesis  of  the  Greek 
slaughter  of  prisoners,  the  Roman  games,  or  the  patristic 
hell. 

The  precepts  of  friendship  are  what  might  be  expected 
in  such  a  society :  kindly  and  prudent,  but  without 
any  passionate  depth  of  feeling.  "  It  befalleth  that 
a  quarrelsome  man  is  a  spoiler  of  things  :  be  not  thus 
to  him  who  cometh  to  thee  ;  the  remembrance  of  a  man 


THE  OUTER  DUTIES  93 

is  of  his  kindliness  in  the  years  after  the  staff."  (Ptah- 
hotep,  34.)  "  Useful  are  the  doings  of  a  friend  (if  he) 
purify  himself  from  evils,  (then)  thou  shalt  be  safe  from 
his  being  lost ;  (therefore)  beware  of  any  loss  (of  friend- 
ship)/' (Any,  52.)  And  in  the  late  precepts  of  a  base 
society  it  was  enjoined,  "  Do  not  pervert  the  heart  of 
thy  acquaintance  if  he  be  pure."  (Precept,  23.)  While 
caution  in  friendship  was  noted  very  early.  "  If  thou 
seekest  the  character  of  a  friend,  mind  thou  do  not  ask 
(of  others)  ;  go  to  him,  occupy  thyself  with  him  alone, 
so  as  not  to  interfere  with  his  business  ;  argue  with 
him  after  a  season,  test  his  heart  with  an  instance  of 
speech."  (Ptah-hotep,  33.) 

57.  The  position  of  a  leading  man  is  dwelt  on  by 
Ptah-hotep.  "  If  thou  art  strong,  inspiring  awe  by 
knowledge  or  by  pleasing,  speak  in  first  command  ; 
that  is  to  say,  not  according  to  (another's)  lead.  The 
weak  man  entereth  into  error.  Raise  not  thine  heart 
lest  it  should  be  cast  down.  Be  not  silent.  Beware  of 
interruption  and  of  answering  words  with  heat.  The 
flames  of  a  fiery  heart  sweep  away  the  mild  man  when  a 
fighter  treadeth  on  his  path."  (Ptah-hotep,  25.)  Antef 
says,  "  I  am  a  speaker  in  the  house  of  justice,  of  ready 
mouth  in  the  difficulties  of  heart."  (20.)  "  If  thou 
art  a  guide,  commanding  the  conduct  of  a  company, 
seek  for  thyself  every  good  aim,  so  that  thy  policy  may 
be  without  error.  A  great  thing  is  justice,  enduring  and 
surviving."  (Ptah-hotep,  5.)  "  I  am  accurate  like 
the  balance,  weighing  truth  like  Thoth,"  says  Antef. 
(17.)  "  Do  not  take  a  haughty  attitude,"  is  said  in  the 
Ptolemaic  precepts.  (24.) 

The  business  of  the  council  of  the  district  was  an 
important  part  of  the  life  of  a  well-born  Egyptian  ; 


94  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

it  was  the  main  field  for  the  use  of  most  of  the  social 
qualities,  much  what  the  modern  meglis  is  among  the 
shekhs  of  an  Egyptian  town,  or  the  bench  of  Justices 
of  the  Peace  in  England.  We  have  already  noticed 
allusions  to  qualities  at  the  council,  and  some  injunctions 
relate  entirely  to  such  affairs.  "  If  thou  art  a  successful 
man  sitting  in  the  council  of  his  lord,  confine  thine  heart 
to  what  promiseth  success.  That  thou  shouldst  be 
silent  is  better  than  that  thy  speech  should  run  wild. 
Thou  knowest  what  thou  understandest.  It  is  an  expert 
that  speaketh  in  the  council.  Ill  to  bear  is  speaking  of 
every  kind  of  work.  It  is  one  that  understandeth  it 
that  putteth  it  to  the  stick."  (Ptah-hotep,  24.)  "  If 
thou  actest  as  the  son  of  a  man  upon  the  council,  a 
messenger  to  persuade  the  people  ...  do  not  tend  to 
favour  one  side.  Beware  lest  it  be  said  '  His  method  is 
that  of  the  nobles,  he  giveth  speech  favouring  one  side 
therein.'  Turn  thine  aim  unto  an  even  balance." 
(Ptah-hotep,  28.)  If  thou  findest  a  debater  in  his 
moment,  a  poor  man,  not  thine  equal,  let  not  thine  heart 
leap  out  upon  him  when  he  is  feeble.  Let  him  alone, 
let  him  refute  himself,  question  him  not  over-much  " 
(Ptah-hotep,  4)  :  a  saying  that  reminds  us  of  George 
Herbert's : 

"  Fierceness  makes 
Error  a  fault,  and  truth  discourtesy." 

Lastly,  convivial  conduct  has  its  duties  laid  down  by 
one  of  the  earliest  moralists,  Kagemni.  "  If  thou  sit  test 
at  meat  with  a  company,  hate  the  bread  that  thou 
desirest,  for  it  is  but  a  little  moment.  Restrain  appe- 
tite, for  gluttony  is  base.  It  is  a  base  fellow  who  is 
mastered  by  his  belly,  who  passeth  time  without  thought, 
free  ranging  for  his  feeding  in  their  houses.  But  be  not 


THE  OUTER  DUTIES  95 

afraid  of  meat  in  company  with  the  greedy,  take  what 
he  giveth  thee,  refuse  it  not,  thinking  that  it  will  honour 
him.  If  there  be  a  man  devoid  of  making  himself 
known,  on  whom  no  word  hath  power  .  .  .  every 
one  crieth,  '  Let  thy  name  come  forth,  thou  art  silent 
with  the  mouth  when  spoken  to/  "  (Kagemni,  2,  3,  4.) 


RELATIONS   TO   SUPERIORS 

58.  Strange  to  say  not  a  single  duty  to  superiors 
appears  in  the  great  repudiation  of  sins.  The  total 
absence  of  family  duties  and  those  to  superiors  in  these 
primitive  categories  may  possibly  lead  us  to  the  view 
that  neither  family  nor  superiors  existed  in  the  early 
period  of  society  to  which  these  lists  belong.  It  would 
be  quite  possible  that  in  the  matriarchal  society  the 
permanent  bond  of  the  family  was  not  looked  on  as 
entailing  duties  different  in  kind  to  those  equally  due 
to  relatives  and  neighbours  in  general.  And  it  would  be 
also  possible  that  in  a  population  of  independent  farmers 
without  any  central  organization,  or  need  of  com- 
bining against  foes,  the  upper  class  for  whom  such 
formularies  were  prepared  had  practically  no  superiors 
to  whom  they  owed  duties.  Very  likely  the  eldest  or 
most  able  farmer  of  a  district  would  be  a  sort  of  leader  ; 
but  practically  a  council  of  the  landowners  of  the 
neighbourhood  might  be  the  only  authority,  and  no 
obligations  to  any  superiors  of  these  would  exist. 
Certainly  in  the  historical  ages  of  the  Vth  and  XlXth 
Dynasties  the  family  duties  are  far  more  lightly  touched 
on  than  we  should  expect,  and  there  is  none  of  that 
clannish  sense  of  solidarity  which  is  the  basis  of  society 


96  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

to  western  peoples ;  while  the  duties  to  superiors  are 
not  so  frequently  named  as  the  duties  to  inferiors. 
The  absence  of  certain  classes  of  feeling  and  ideas  may 
often  show  us  more  than  the  presence  of  particular 
injunctions. 

The  duty  of  respect  to  old  age  is  of  course  one  of  the 
most  obvious  to  many  different  races.  Yet  we  do  not 
find  this  enjoined  in  the  earlier  sayings,  but  only  in 
Ptolemaic  times.  "  Mock  not  the  venerable  man  who 
is  thy  superior/'  (Precept  25.)  "  May  it  happen  to 
thee  to  respect  the  venerable/'  (Precept  7.)  And  the 
master  is  equally  to  be  regarded.  "  Curse  not  thy 
master  before  god/'  (Precept  9.)  "  Do  not  speak 
against  thy  master/'  (Precept  10.)  And,  earlier  than 
that,  age  was  to  be  respected  more  than  position. 
"  Do  not  thou  sit  when  another  is  standing  who  is  older 
than  thee,  even  if  thou  art  greater  than  he  in  his  office." 
(Any,  27.) 

Maxims  for  servants  are  also  given  by  Any.  "  He 
who  hates  laziness  comes  without  being  called/'  (46.) 
"  When  none  call  him  the  runner  comes."  (47.) 
"  Reply  not  to  a  superior  who  is  annoyed,  wait  on  one 
side  ;  speak  softly  when  he  speaks  in  anger,  this  remedy 
appeases  his  heart."  (58.) 

The  relations  of  subordinates  to  nobles  occupy  much 
notice.  The  semi-domestic  staff  of  business  agents 
attached  to  the  household  of  the  wealthy  chief  of  a 
district  is  well  known  even  under  the  civilized  govern- 
ment of  the  present  day  ;  but  when  the  bonds  of  order 
in  Egypt  were  far  slacker  than  now,  when  each  petty 
chief,  or  big  shekh,  was  responsible  for  the  peace  of 
his  district  and  for  its  taxes  to  the  king,  with  unlimited 
powers  for  keeping  order  in  his  hands,  these  staffs  of 


THE  OUTER   DUTIES  97 

servants  really  included  the  police,  taxgatherers, 
accountants,  and  district  surveyors  of  the  petty  juris- 
diction of  their  lord.  Hence  they  were  a  numerous  and 
important  class,  in  fact  the  bureaucracy  of  the  country. 
Ptah-hotep  enjoins,  "  If  thou  art  a  man  of  those  who 
sit  at  the  place  of  a  greater  man  than  thyself  take  what 
he  giveth  .  .  .  thou  shalt  look  at  what  is  before  thee  : 
pierce  him  not  with  many  glances,  it  is  abomination  to 
the  ka  for  them  to  be  directed  at  him.  Speak  not  unto 
him  until  he  calleth,  one  knoweth  not  the  evil  (or  sorrow) 
at  heart ;  thou  shalt  speak  when  he  questioneth  thee, 
and  so  what  thou  sayest  will  be  good  to  the  heart/'  (7.) 
"  The  noble  who  hath  plenty  of  bread  doeth  as  his  ka 
commandeth,  he  will  give  to  whom  he  praiseth,  it  is 
the  manner  of  evening  (the  common  supper  of  the  whole 
household).  It  befalleth  that  it  is  the  ka  that  openeth 
his  hands.  The  noble  giveth,  it  is  not  the  subject  who 
winneth.  The  eating  of  bread  is  under  the  disposal  of 
god,  it  is  the  ignorant  that  rebelleth  against  it."  (7.) 
This  picture  of  conduct  in  the  noble's  household  is 
exactly  what  may  be  seen  every  evening  at  the  round 
supper  of  a  wealthy  man.  Antef  says,  "  I  am  a  regulator 
for  the  king's  house,  knowing  what  is  said  in  every 
diwan."  (12.)  "  I  am  a  pleasure  unto  the  house  of 
his  master,  bringing  to  remembrance  his  successful 
exploits."  (14.) 

59.  In  business  we  read,  "  Bend  thy  back  to  thy  chief, 
the  superior  of  the  king's  house  on  whose  property  thy 
house  dependeth,  and  thy  payments  in  their  proper 
place.  It  is  ill  to  be  at  variance  with  the  chief,  one 
liveth  only  while  he  is  gracious.  ..."  (Ptah-hotep 
31.)  "  Teach  a  noble  what  is  profitable  to  him  ;  make 
him  acceptable  amongst  people,  let  his  satisfaction  reach 


98  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

his  master  on  whose  ka  depend  thy  provisions.  When 
the  stomach  of  a  favourite  is  satisfied,  thy  back  will 
be  clothed  thereby."  (Ptah-hotep,  27.)  Here  back- 
stairs influence  and  the  evils  of  toadying  are  plainly 
commended.  Antef  boasts,  "  I  am  one  exact  in  the 
house  of  his  master,  knowing  the  return  in  trade/'  (?) 
(7.)  "  I  am  one  that  recognizes  his  instructor,  that 
recognizes  a  counsellor ;  a  councillor  that  causes  his 
counsel  to  be  taken/1  (19.) 

To  negotiators  and  envoys  some  very  judicious  orders 
are  given.  "  If  thou  art  a  man  that  entereth,  sent  by 
a  noble  to  a  noble,  be  exact  in  the  manner  of  him  who 
sendeth  thee,  do  the  business  for  him  as  he  saith. 
Beware  of  making  ill  feeling  by  words  that  would  set 
noble  against  noble,  in  destroying  justice  (or  good  order)  ; 
do  not  exaggerate.  The  washing  of  the  heart  shall 
not  be  repeated  in  the  speech  of  any  man,  noble  or 
commoner ;  that  is  an  abomination  to  the  ka."  (8.) 
This  "  washing  of  the  heart  "  is  evidently  the  free 
unguarded  expression  of  feeling  about  a  person,  known 
to  us  as  "  letting  fly,"  "  expressing  the  feelings,"  "  using 
language,"  etc.,  a  process  well  known  to  wash  the  heart 
by  clearing  away  ill  feeling,  after  which  the  speaker 
"  feels  better."  To  repeat  any  of  this  was  a  high  breach 
of  good  faith  ;  only  the  exact  message  which  was  sent 
should  be  repeated.  "  I  am  firm  of  foot,  excellent  of 
plan,  forcing  the  way  for  him  that  establisheth  him," 
is  the  business-like  boast  of  Antef's  capacity  as  envoy. 
(18.)  Those  who  sought  justice  were  reminded  that 
they  must  not  be  touchy  if  they  could  not  be  attended 
to  at  once.  "  When  thou  art  in  the  council-hall,  stand- 
ing and  sitting  until  thy  going  (or  the  movement  of 
thy  business)  that  hath  been  commanded  for  thee  on  the 


THE  OUTER  DUTIES  99 

earliest  day,  go  not  away  if  thou  art  kept  back,  while 
the  face  (of  the  chief)  is  attentive  to  him  who  entereth 
and  reporteth,  and  the  place  of  him  who  is  called  is 
broad.  The  council-hall  is  according  to  rule,  and  all 
its  method  according  to  measure.  It  is  god  who 
promoteth  position,  it  is  not  done  for  those  who  are 
ready  of  elbows."  (Ptah-hotep,  13.) 

And  even  in  death  presumption  was  not  to  be  tole- 
rated :  "  Do  not  build  up  thy  tomb  above  those  who 
command  thee/'  (Precepts,  5.) 


RELATIONS    TO   INFERIORS 

60.  On  the  duties  and  relations  to  inferiors  the 
repudiations  of  sins  have  much  to  say.  The  claim  that 
"  I  have  not  oppressed  those  beneath  me  "  (A.  2)  is 
echoed  down  to  the  Ptolemaic  times,  "  May  it  not  happen 
to  thee  to  maltreat  an  inferior  "  (Precept  7),  and  "  Do 
not  amuse  thyself  by  playing  upon  those  who  are 
dependent  upon  thee/'  (Precept  17.) 

The  repudiation  continues,  "  I  have  not  caused  a 
slave  to  be  ill-treated  by  his  overseer  "  (A.  13)  ;  "  I 
have  not  caused  weeping  "  (A.  16)  ;  "  I  am  one  silent 
to  the  violent  and  ignorant,  from  a  desire  to  abolish 
greediness  of  oppression/1  (Antef,  I.) 

With  the  fine  sense  of  reserve  that  we  have  noticed 
before,  even  a  favour  to  a  subordinate  was  not  to  be 
recalled  to  notice  if  he  were  ungrateful  enough  to  forget 
it.  "  If  thou  art  gracious  concerning  a  matter  that 
hath  happened,  and  leanest  to  favour  a  man  in  his  right, 
avoid  the  subject,  and  do  not  recall  it  after  the  first 


100  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

day  that  he  hath  been  silent  to  thee  (about  it)."  (Ptah- 
hotep,  29.) 

Of  the  management  of  inferiors  we  read,  "  The  leader 
of  a  party  going  to  the  field  seems  another  being." 
(Any,  53.)  "  Let  there  be  a  life  of  discipline  in  thy 
house  ;  reprimand  is  healthy  for  thy  finding  out  for 
thyself."  (Any,  20.)  But  the  care  and  attention  was 
not  to  be  confined  to  the  house.  "  My  god  having 
granted  that  thou  hast  children,  the  heart  of  thy  father 
knows  them  (they  are  cared  for)  ;  but  whoever  is  hungry 
is  satisfied  in  his  own  house,  and  I  am  the  wall  which 
protects  him.  Do  nothing  without  thy  heart 
(cordiality),  for  it  is  my  god  who  gives  existence." 
(Any,  26.)  And  long  before  in  the  repudiations  of  sins 
the  soul  declared,  "  I  have  not  caused  hunger  "  (A.  15), 
"  I  have  not  brought  any  to  hunger  "  (A.  14  ),"  I  have 
not  taken  food  away  "  (B.  10),  "  I  have  not  taken  milk 
from  the  mouth  of  babes  "  (A.  27),  referring  to  his  not 
having  harried  the  women  of  the  estate  with  farm  work. 
And  overworking  the  serfs  was  specially  forbidden  : 
"  I  have  not  made  a  man  do  more  than  his  day's  work  " 
is  in  the  earlier  repudiation.  (A.  6.) 

The  avoidance  of  pride  after  prosperity  is  enjoined  : 
"  Eat  not  bread  while  another  stands,  without  reaching 
out  thy  hand  for  him.  It  is  known  eternally  that  the 
man  who  is  not,  will  become  one  rich,  another  poor, 
but  food  will  (always)  remain  for  him  who  acts 
charitably.  A  man  may  be  rich  for  years  and  yet 
become  a  servant  next  year."  (Any,  41.)  "  If  thou 
growest  great  after  small  things,  and  makest  wealth 
after  poverty,  so  that  thou  art  an  example  thereof  in 
thy  city,  thou  art  known  in  thy  nome,  and  thou  art 
become  prominent ;  then  do  not  wrap  up  thy  heart  in 


THE  OUTER  DUTIES  101 

thy  riches  that  have  come  to  thee  by  the  gift  of  god  (for 
there  shall  follow)  another  like  unto  thee  to  whom  the 
like  hath  befallen/'  (Ptah-hotep,  30.) 

61.  Grasping  ways  were  specially  inveighed  against : 
"  I  am  one  open  of  face  to  his  mendicant,  doing  good  to 
his  equal/'  (5.)  "  I  am  open  of  face,  of  bountiful 
hand,  master  of  hospitality,  free  of  hiding  the  face  " 
(8),  "  I  am  the  friend  of  the  miserable,  sweet  and  pleasant 
to  him  who  hath  nothing  "  (9),  "I  am  food  for  the 
hungry  who  hath  nothing,  and  of  bountiful  hand  to  the 
miserable  "  (10),  are  the  boasts  of  Antef.  "  Let  not 
thy  heart  be  extortionate  about  shares,  in  grasping 
at  what  is  not  thy  portion.  Let  not  thy  heart  be  extor- 
tionate towards  thy  neighbours.  Greater  is  prayer  to  a 
kindly  person  than  force.  Poor  is  he  that  carrieth  off 
his  neighbours  without  the  persuasion  of  words.  A 
little  for  which  there  hath  been  extortion  causeth  remorse 
when  the  stomach  is  cool/'  (Ptah-hotep,  20.) 

The  fair  treatment  and  encouragement  of  those  who 
seek  justice  is  commanded.  "  If  thou  art  an  adviser 
be  pleased  to  hear  the  speech  of  a  petitioner,  let  him  not 
hesitate  to  empty  himself  of  what  he  hath  purposed  to 
tell  thee  ;  love  beareth  away  falsification  (or  conceal- 
ment), let  his  heart  be  washed  until  that  is  accomplished 
for  which  he  hath  come.  If  a  hesitating  man  make 
complaints  one  (a  bystander)  saith,  '  Why  when  a 
man  hath  trespassed  are  there  no  complaints  made  to 
him  (the  judge)  about  what  hath  happened  ?  '  It  is 
good  breeding  to  hear  graciously."  (Ptah-hotep,  17.) 
Antef  says,  "  I  am  a  judge  hearing  truth,  advising  (?) 
what  is  in  the  happy  mean  "  (13),  "  I  am  pleasant  in  the 
diwans,  attentive,  without  piggishness."  (15.) 

The  steward   or  farm  bailiff  was    always  a    very 


102  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

important  person,  as  he  could  make  or  mar  any  man, 
and  might  readily  play  false.  "  Take  a  steward  of  just 
repute,  for  thy  reputation  is  in  his  balance  .  .  .  spare 
thy  hand  from  him  who  is  in  thy  dwellings,  the  other 
things  being  in  his  care."  (Any,  17.)  This  free  dealing 
with  a  trusty  steward  is  commanded.  "  Degrade  not 
the  steward,  who  acts  as  deputy  in  thy  house.  Let 
him  not  run  after  thy  ear.  Give  him  audience  when  he 
is  in  thy  house,  and  turn  not  back  his  requests.  Speak 
to  him  honourably,  being  honourable  on  earth  without 
reproach  for  what  he  does."  (Any,  63.)  But  due 
caution  was  needed  before  trusting  a  man  thus.  "  Do 
not  open  thy  hand  to  an  unknown  man,  it  will  be  a  loss 
to  thee.  When  goods  are  put  in  their  store-rooms  he 
becomes  to  thee  as  a  deputy,  and  will  store  thy  things 
for  himself,  and  thy  people  will  find  him  in  the 
way  to  thee."  (Any,  18.)  The  last  touch  is  particu- 
larly true  in  Egypt,  where  any  man  who  is  in  a  place 
of  trust  is  soon  in  the  position  of  a  go-between,  prevent- 
ing his  master  from  seeing  too  much  of  those  below  him. 

Of  assistance  to  others  Antef  boasts  thus  :  "  I  am 
knowledge  to  him  that  knoweth  not,  teaching  a  man 
what  is  advantageous  to  him."  (n.) 

Coming  down  to  animals  we  find  a  curious  code  of 
fair  play  enjoined  in  the  first  repudiation  of  sins. 
Animals  might  be  caught  in  open  ways,  but  not  by  deceit. 
"  I  have  not  caught  animals  by  a  bait  of  herbage  ; 
I  have  not  trapped  birds  by  a  bait  of  '  gods'  bones  ' ;  I 
have  not  caught  fish  by  a  bait  of  fishes'  bodies."  (A. 
28,  29,  30.) 


THE  OUTER  DUTIES  103 


DUTIES   TO   THE   GODS 

62.  The  duties  enjoined  toward  the  gods  are  of  interest 
as  showing  somewhat  of  the  lay  Egyptian's  attitude 
toward  religion,  and  giving  somewhat  of  a  different 
side  to  that  of  the  temple  scenes.  It  is  to  be  noticed 
that  there  is  not  a  single  maxim  on  this  subject  in  those 
of  Kagemni  and  Ptah-hotep.  Regarding  the  king — 
the  great  high  priest — the  soul  declared,  "  I  have  not 
cursed  the  king."  (B.  35.) 

In  the  duties  about  the  tomb,  the  earlier  repudiation 
has,  "  I  have  not  taken  the  provisions  of  the  blessed 
dead/'  (A.  21.)  And  in  late  times  when  ostentation 
abounded  the  precepts  enjoined,  "  Build  not  thy  tomb 
in  thine  own  estate ;  build  not  thy  tomb  at  the 
approaches  to  the  temples/'  (19,  20.) 

The  offerings  to  the  gods  were  specially  guarded  in  the 
earlier  repudiation,  "  I  have  not  cut  short  the  rations  of 
the  temples  "  (A.  19),  "  I  have  not  diminished  the 
offerings  of  the  gods  "  (A.  20),  "  I  have  not  defrauded  the 
cycle  of  the  gods  of  their  choice  meats."  (A.  34.)  The 
sacred  property  was  also  guarded,  "  I  have  not  stolen 
the  property  of  the  gods  "  (B.  8),  "  I  have  not  driven  off 
the  cattle  of  the  sacred  lands  "  (A.  35),  "  I  have  not 
slain  a  sacred  animal."  (B.  13.) 

A  strange  injunction  is,  "I  have  not  stopped  a  god 
in  his  comings  forth."  (A.  36.)  This  almost  looks  as 
if  it  referred  to  checking  idiots  or  insane  persons,  who 
are  generally  supposed  to  be  possessed.  Offence  to 
the  gods  was  also  guarded  against ;  "I  have  not  done 
that  which  is  an  abomination  to  the  gods  "  (A.  12), 
8 


104  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

"  I  have  not  offended  the  gods  of  any  city  "  (B.  42),  "  I 
have  not  cursed  god/'     (B.  38.) 

63.  Some  form  of  augury  seems  to  be  referred  to  by 
Any  in  the  remark,  "  If  one  comes  to  seek  thy  views, 
it  is  a  reason  to  consult  the  sacred  books/'  (Any  3.) 
The  duty  of  making  offerings  is  often  repeated.  In 
the  earlier  repudiation  it  occurs,  "  I  approach  the  bark 
of  offerings,  I  approach  the  place  of  him  who  offers  the 
prescribed  offerings/'  (A.  7.)  Any  says,  "  Make  the 
feast  of  thy  god,  renew  it  in  its  season,  it  irritates  god 
to  neglect  it ;  set  up  witnesses  after  thou  hast  made 
thy  offering  the  first  time  of  so  doing/1  (Any,  2.) 
Again,  "  When  thou  makest  an  offering  to  thy  god, 
guard  against  his  abominations.  ...  Do  not  increase 
his  orders  ;  guard  thyself  from  expanding  his  liturgies  ; 
thine  eye  should  regard  his  plans.  Apply  thyself  to 
make  adoration  in  his  name,  for  it  is  he  who  gives  to 
spirits  millions  of  forms,  magnifying  those  who  magnify 
him.  The  god  of  this  earth  being  Shu,  lord  of  the 
horizon,  and  his  emblems  being  on  earth,  as  one  gives 
him  incense  with  bread  every  day,  he  will  make  to 
flourish  by  his  appearing  that  which  is  planted. 
Increase  therefore  the  bread  for  the  god/'  (Any,  39.) 
"  Give  thyself  to  the  god  ;  guard  thyself  each  day  for 
the  god,  and  do  to-morrow  as  to-day.  Sacrifice,  for 
god  looks  on  the  offerer,  but  he  neglects  those  who 
neglect  him."  (Any,  48.)  "  He  who  exalts  his  spirit 
by  praise,  by  adoration,  by  incense  in  his  works,  so 
that  devotion  is  in  his  affairs — he  who  does  thus  god 
shall  magnify  his  name."  (Any,  5.)  A  somewhat 
higher  line  is  touched  by  Any  in  one  case,  "  That  which 
is  detestable  in  the  sanctuary  of  god  are  noisy  feasts ; 
if  thou  implore  him  with  a  loving  heart  of  which  all  the 


THE  OUTER  DUTIES  105 

words  are  mysterious,  he  will  do  thy  matters,  he  hears 
thy  words,  he  accepts  thine  offerings/'  (Any,  n.) 

64.  We  have  already  noticed  in  dealing  with  the  inner 
character,  how  strength,  quietness,  and  the  avoiding 
of  extremes  was  set  forth  as  the  aim  in  cultivating 
the  mind  ;  and  how,  in  external  business,  self-help, 
prudence,  conciliation,  and  honesty  are  enjoined.  We 
may  now  sum  up  the  principles  of  dealing  with  others. 
The  family  duties  we  have  seen  are  very  little  dwelt  on  ; 
and  there  seems  no  sense  of  the  wider  range  of  duties 
to  relatives  that  carries  so  much  with  it  to  our  notions. 
In  dealing  with  equals,  beside  the  obvious  crimes  of 
murder  and  theft,  cheating  and  falsehood  are  strongly 
repudiated  ;  faults  should  be  overlooked  ;  oppression 
and  stinginess  should  be  avoided  ;  and  no  mere  mischief 
or  needless  suffering  should  be  allowed,  because  it  was 
unpleasant  to  see  as  well  as  to  feel.  Friendship  was 
looked  on  as  useful,  but  without  any  enthusiasm  or 
devotion.  Haughtiness  was  to  be  eschewed,  and 
geniality  cultivated  in  social  intercourse.  To  superiors, 
ready  submission  was  commended  ;  and  the  influences 
of  back-stairs  and  toadying  were  not  to  be  omitted. 
But  mischief  should  not  be  made  by  repeating  strong 
expressions.  To  inferiors,  fairness  and  kindness  was 
enjoined  ;  past  favour  should  not  be  harped  upon. 
Pride,  grasping,  and  brow-beating  are  all  condemned. 
Trusty  servants  should  be  respected,  and  not  humiliated, 
and  animals  should  be  hunted  fairly  and  without  decep- 
tion. But  with  the  gods  everything  was  a  matter  of 
quid  pro  quo,  and  making  terms  in  the  style  of  Jacob. 

Now  the  whole  of  this  is  rather  the  spirit  of  the 
eighteenth  than  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Their  vir- 
tues are  quiet  and  discreet ;  their  vices  are  calculating. 


106  THE  OUTER  DUTIES 

They  belong  far  more  to  the  tone  of  Chesterfield  or 
Gibbon  than  to  that  of  Kingsley  or  Carlyle  ;  they 
accord  with  Pope  or  Thomson  rather  than  with  Swin- 
burne or  Tennyson.  There  is  hardly  a  single  splendid 
feeling  ;  there  is  not  one  burst  of  magnanimous  sacri- 
fice ;  there  is  not  one  heartfelt  self-depreciation,  in  any 
point  of  all  this  worldly- wisdom.  They  are  as  canny  as 
a  Scot,  without  his  sentiment ;  as  prudent  as  a  French- 
man, without  his  ideals  ;  as  self-conceited  as  an  English- 
man, without  his  family. 

On  the  other  hand  we  must  recognize  that  the 
Egyptians  show  a  wealth  of  good  qualities — good,  but 
not  lovable — of  sterling  value  for  the  constitution  of 
society,  which  gave  them  the  high  place  which  they 
rilled  in  the  early  history  of  man. 

But  all  this  is  the  standard  and  not  the  practice.  The 
standard  is  not  so  very  high  that  we  should  assume  that 
the  practice  was  much  lower ;  it  was  a  practicable 
standard,  and  was  probably  effective  in  laying  hold  of 
a  large  part  of  the  people.  Cold  and  hard  as  much  of 
it  seems,  we  yet  know  from  their  stories  and  their  songs 
that  they  had  much  fuller  feelings  than  would  be 
expected  from  the  maxims  of  the  prudent.  And  we  must 
no  more  judge  them  entirely  by  the  cautious  injunc- 
tions of  their  ancients,  than  we  should  wish  our  own 
selves  to  be  pictured  in  the  future  as  being  all  Benthams 
and  Mills,  Pecksniffs  or  Pitt-Crawleys. 


NOTES 

A.  INHERITED  INTUITIONS. 

B.  THE  IDEAL  OF  TRUTH,  LUCIAN. 

C.  STATISTICS  OF  CONSCIENCE  MONEY. 

D.  NATURE  OF  THE  KA. 


NOTE  A 

INHERITED    INTUITIONS 

As  an  analogy  to  the  view  of  inherited  intuitions  of  moral  sense 
and  conscience  selecting  lines  of  action,  there  is  a  similar  inherit- 
ance in  the  sense  of  pain  and  pleasure.  The  extraordinary 
theories  of  special  nerves  of  pain,  and  the  difficulties  of  denning 
it  from  pleasure,  are  all  needless  when  we  recognize  the  inherited 
character  of  such  definitions.  Simple  sensation  is  the  common 
basis  of  both  ;  and  such  sensations  as  ancestral  and  personal 
experience  have  associated  on  the  average  with  injury  are  recog- 
nized as  pain,  those  associated  with  well-being  are  recognized 
as  pleasure.  The  ideas  of  pain  or  pleasure  are  entirely  an  asso- 
ciation of  causes  and  effects,  and  nothing  abstractly  different 
in  nature.  The  pains  which  cannot  be  inherited,  as  those  of 
decay  and  death,  are  not  in  the  least  a  dread  to  animals,  nor 
to  races  of  men,  who  are  not  reflective — pointing  clearly  to 
the  inherited  and  acquired  idea  of  pain.  During  recovery  there 
may  be  far  sharper  and  more  lasting  sensations  than  during 
injury,  and  yet  they  are  always  pleasurable,  showing  that  not  the 
intensity  but  the  connection  of  the  sensation  gives  its  character. 
This  again  is  seen  by  the  intense  misery  of  internal  injury 
without  any  keen  sensations  ;  association  here  is  the  cause  of 
pain.  Even  a  short  experience  of  the  individual  will  decide 
between  pain  or  pleasure  of  a  sensation  ;  a  medicine,  such  as 
quinine,  which  may  be  very  nauseous  at  first,  will  become  a 
pleasure  like  a  sweetmeat  when  it  has  been  associated  with 
relief.  And  new  flavours  unlike  any  yet  known,  as  new  fruits 
or  chemical  compounds,  cannot  be  distinguished  as  nice  or  nasty 
at  first.  It  is  only  when  their  effects  have  been  felt  that  a  sense 
of  pain  or  pleasure  becomes  associated  with  them  ;  thus  showing 
that  association  alone  produces  the  character  of  a  sensation. 

If,  thus,  pains  and  pleasures  are  purely  associative  ideas, 
inherited,  and  developed  in  the  individual,  the  mental  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong  are  all  the  more  likely  to  be  an  inheritance  of 
trains  of  thought  and  ideas  which  have  proved  to  be  successful 
or  injurious. 

109 


NOTE   B 
THE    IDEAL   OF   TRUTH 

As  a  good  study  of  the  sense  of  veracity  in  the  later  Greek  world, 
we  may  note  a  piece  of  one  of  Lucian's  Dialogues  ("  The  Liar/' 
No.  52). 

"  TYCHIADES.  Can  you  tell  me,  Philocles,  what  is  the  attrac- 
tion which  makes  most  men  love  to  tell  lies  ?  They  even  go  to 
the  point  of  saying  things  which  have  not  common  sense,  and 
listen  to  those  who  do  likewise. 

"  PHILOCLES.  There  are  plenty  of  reasons,  Tychiades,  enough 
to  make  such  men  lie  as  only  think  of  their  self-interest. 

"  TYCHIADES.  But  the  question  is  not  there,  as  one  says, 
for  I  am  not  speaking  of  those  who  lie  to  be  useful  to  themselves. 
Some  such  are  praiseworthy  when  they  have  deceived  enemies, 
or  when  in  a  critical  moment  they  have  employed  this  remedy 
as  a  means  of  safety  ;  it  is  thus  that  Ulysses  often  acted  to  guide 
his  life  and  those  of  his  companions.  But  I  am  speaking,  my 
dear,  of  those  folks  who  without  any  need  much  prefer  lies  to 
truth,  and  please  themselves  and  make  a  business  of  it  without 
any  particular  reason. 

"  PHILOCLES.  And  have  you  known  folks  of  this  kind,  who 
have  an  innate  love  of  lying  ? 

"  TYCHIADES.     Certainly,  plenty  of  them." 


no 


NOTE  C 
CONSCIENCE   MONEY 

SOME  further  details  about  Conscience  Money  that  do  not 
concern  the  immediate  argument  of  the  lecture  may  be  given 
here,  as  this  subject  is  one  that  has  not  yet  been  studied.  I  am 
indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Robert  Chalmers,  of  H.M. 
Treasury,  for  informing  me  what  materials  were  available  on 
this  matter,  and  for  obtaining  the  permission  of  the  Chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer  to  enable  me  to  have  the  details  of  amounts 
copied  for  my  use  by  a  clerk.  These  copies  only  concern  the 
dates  and  amounts  received,  as  the  information  about  source  or 
persons  involved  is,  of  course,  essentially  private  to  the  Depart- 
ment. The  entries  of  the  last  thirty  years  comprise  4,791  items 
received,  ranging  from  id.  to  £4,070.  All  of  these  have  been 
tabulated  and  worked  up  in  the  present  inquiry. 

The  first  question  is  how  the  material  should  be  dealt  with 
so  as  to  obtain  the  most  intelligible  result.  The  long  lists  of 
varying  sums  have  to  be  classified  and  arranged.  The  first 
question  is  that  of  the  scale.  In  the  appendix  to  the  "  Pyramids 
and  Temples  of  Gizeh  "  I  pointed  out  how  a  scale  of  equal 
increments  was  not  the  true  basis  of  the  equilateral  probability 
curve.  The  difference  between  this  and  a  scale  of  equal  multiples 
is  not  seen  except  where  the  variation  is  a  large  part  of  the  total 
amount.  Hence  in  most  physical  questions  it  is  never  thought 
of.  But  when  dealing  with  variations  of  many  times  the  total 
quantity — as  here  a  variation  of  one  to  a  million  in  the  amount 
— then  the  scale  is  an  essential  question.  When  we  look  at  any 
physical  variable  of  which  the  reciprocal  is  likely  to  be  treated, 
as,  for  instance,  the  distance  or  angular  parallax  of  stars,  the 
density  or  volume  of  a  given  mass,  the  fractions  of  an  atmosphere 
of  pressure,  or  the  pressure  in  height  of  mercury — in  each  case 
it  would  be  clearly  wrong  to  get  different  curves  from  the  results 
because  we  read  them  on  a  different  method.  Such  difference 
of  curves  would  simply  prove  an  irrationality  of  the  scales. 
But  no  such  difference  of  results  can  exist  if  we  use  a  scale  of 
equal  multiples,  or  a  logarithmic  scale.  Such  was  the  reasoning 
then  used. 

in 


112  CONSCIENCE  MONEY 

Now  Conscience  Money  is  an  excellent  subject  by  which  to 
test  the  validity  of  this  reasoning.  It  varies  so  enormously 
that  any  scale  not  true  in  theory  could  never  yield  a  consistent 
probability  curve  from  such  material.  But  we  see  on  plotting 
out  the  amounts  on  the  scale  of  equal  multiples  that  we  reach 
a  consistent  equilateral  curve  with  no  more  divergence  than  can 
easily  be  explained.  Any  scale  that  was  not  true  in  theory  could 
never  deal  so  equably  with  material  varying  so  vastly  in  amount 
as  from  id.  to  £4,000.  This  result  is,  then,  one  of  the  effective 
proofs  of  the  a  priori  reasoning  given  above,  that  the  true  scale 
is  one  of  equal  multiples,  and  that  probable  error  is  really  x  or 
-r-  x  and  not  +  or  -  x. 

Next  comes  the  question  of  what  divisions  are  most  rational 
for  dealing  with  the  material.  The  £5  note  is  one  of  the  main 
features,  and  it  would  be  obviously  wrong  to  divide  the  scale 
so  that  such  a  main  factor  would  come  just  at  either  limit  of  a 
division.  It  should  be  central.  And  as  £2  ros.  and  £10  are 
the  next  most  obvious  amounts  we  are  led  to  a  scale  of  binary 
multiples,  where  £2  ios.,  £5,  £10,  £20,  will  each  be  the  centre  of 
a  group.  Hence  the  dividing  points  fall  at  ^2  X  these  amounts, 
or  £3  ios.  8d.,  £7  is.  5d.  ;  and  halving  and  doubling  these  limits, 
down  to  i  Jd.  and  up  to  £3,620  55.  4d. 

Such  was  the  settlement  of  the  nature  of  the  scale  and  of  its 
rational  divisions  for  dealing  with  this  particular  material. 

Beside  the  main  total  curve  of  the  number  of  payments 
made,  the  amounts  of  which  lie  between  the  successive  divisions 
of  such  a  scale,  there  are  also  curves  given  of  lesser  portions  of 
the  whole  material. 

The  "  curve  of  1887-97  "  is  of  value  to  show  the  real  meaning 
of  a  sudden  start  up  in  the  middle  of  the  total  curve.  This  I 
referred  to  the  facility  of  sending  a  £5  note  anonymously  and 
through  the  post.  This  facility  induced  men  to  postpone 
sending  what  conscience  demanded  when  over  £i  until  it 
amounted  to  £5  ;  thus  making  the  curve  of  payments  first  fall 
below  the  probability  curve  and  then  start  above  it  at  £5. 
Similarly  the  £5  facility  forestalled  the  action  of  conscience 
and  made  men  send  in  payments  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  left  to  accumulate  ;  thus  it  actually  diminished  the  fre- 
quency of  larger  amounts.  Now  this  erratic  variation  has 
disappeared  in  the  returns  of  the  last  ten  years,  and  there  is 


114  CONSCIENCE   MONEY 

hardly  any  of  it  to  be  seen  in  the  "  curve  of  1887-97."  The 
reason  of  this  change  seems  to  be  very  probably  the  introduction 
of  postal  orders,  by  which  anonymous  payments  of  sums  under 
^5  can  be  as  easily  made  as  by  the  old  £5  note. 

Then  another  inquiry  is  as  to  the  different  types  of  conscience. 
The  commonest  type  is  but  vague,  and  sends  lump  sums  without 
much  caring  if  they  exactly  make  up  for  deficiencies.  The  Con- 
science Money  becomes  a  sort  of  free-will  offering  to  atone  for  past 
deficiencies  and  keep  an  easy  mind  on  the  subject.  A  small 
number  of  people  are  more  exact,  however,  and  it  is  these  higher 
classes  of  conscience  that  are  shown  by  the  curves  of  "  amounts 
exact  to  £,"  that  is  to  say  any  even  number  of  pounds  or  of 
shillings,  such  as  6,  7,  8,  9,  n,  12,  13,  14,  16,  17,  etc.  ;  "  amounts 
exact  to  ^fr,"  or  precise  to  the  nearest  shilling  on  £2  ros.  or  more  ; 
and  "  amounts  exact  to  -5^,"  or  the  nearest  penny  on  £2  or 
shilling  on  £25.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  centres  of  these  curves 
are  successively  lower  and  lower  along  the  scale,  showing  that 
the  more  precise  types  of  conscience  belong  to  those  persons 
who  deal  with  smaller  amounts. 

Another  interesting  question  is  the  seasonal  distribution. 
The  effect  of  Christmas  or  quarterly  settlements  is  not  traceable 
at  all.  But  a  well-marked  variation  exists,  amounting  to  double 
(both  in  the  curve  of  frequency,  and  in  the  curve  of  the  total 
amount)  at  one  time  of  the  year,  to  what  it  is  at  another.  The 
maximum  is  in  March,  the  minimum  is  in  September.  The 
meaning  of  this  appears  to  be  that  spare  cash  is  most  abundant 
in  March  and  least  in  September.  And  the  cause  probably  is 
that  as  savings  accumulate  during  the  more  economical  season 
of  the  winter  months,  conscience  can  have  freer  sway.  When 
warm  weather  and  excursions  begin  to  be  in  view  money  is 
kept  back  for  them,  and  the  end  of  the  summer  holidays  is  the 
time  when  conscience  has  least  chance,  and  has  to  put  up  with 
promises  of  the  future. 

From  all  this  we  can  see  a  little  of  the  practical  working  and 
nature  of  conscience  in  a  certain  class.  It  easily  puts  up  with 
postponement ;  but  has  a  permanent  hold,  and  exacts  its  claims 
when  the  most  convenient  opportunity  occurs ;  whether  that 
opportunity  be  the  easy  sending  of  a  £5  note,  or  the  paying  up 
when  money  has  fewest  claims  upon  it.  It  is  more  precise  and 
exacting  among  those  persons  who  deal  with  rather  smaller 


CONSCIENCE  MONEY  115 

amounts  than  with  others .  And  it  is  as  legitimately  and  honestly 
followed  in  great  things,  great  temptations  and  opportunities, 
as  it  is  in  small  matters.  Such  results,  though  rather  vague, 
are  of  unique  interest  in  this  part  of  ethics  and  psychology,  as 
somewhat  confirming  and  somewhat  enlarging  our  a  priori 
notions  of  what  would  be  likely,  and  giving  a  definite  and  real 
basis  of  observation. 

To  gain  some  comparative  light  upon  the  matter  I  inquired 
of  two  friends  abroad  what  were  the  views  in  their  countries. 
A  French  Professor  replies  :  "  What  you  call  '  Conscience 
Money  '  exists  amongst  us,  but  I  do  not  remember  having  seen 
any  published  details  of  such  restitutions  ;  the  State  accepts 
them,  and  places  them  in  the  receipts,  so  far  as  I  know.  I  do 
not  know  if  this  is  a  good  criterion  of  comparative  conscience  : 
our  financial  system,  for  instance,  is  so  close  that  fraud  is  dim- 
cult,  and  therefore  occasions  for  restitutions  are  rare.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  number  of  restitutions  might  be  used  to  show  the 
probable  number  of  frauds  ;  and  so  perhaps  an  ingenious 
statistician  might  deduce  from  this  that  the  country  of  most 
restitutions  is  that  of  the  most  fraud,  and  where  the  honesty 
of  private  persons  is  lowest,  at  least  in  their  dealings  with  the 
State." 

A  German  Professor  replies  :  "I  think  that  '  Conscience 
Money '  is  not  paid  in  Germany,  except  in  very  rare  cases.  It 
is  always  reckoned  among  us  as  a  characteristically  English 
institution.  On  the  whole  there  are  certainly  but  very  few 
frauds  practised  upon  the  State  here,  excepting  small  cases  of 
frontier  smuggling  at  the  Customs.  Such  minor  frauds  appear 
to  our  middle  classes  as  very  venial  sins,  and  do  not  trouble  their 
conscience.  And  a  man  who  practises  large  frauds  is  either  a 
rogue,  or  acts  from  necessity  ;  in  neither  case  will  he  .make  resti- 
tution. 

"  To  this  it  must  be  added  that  among  you  the  preachers 
play  a  great  part,  and  influence  the  mass  of  the  people  ;  this 
has  not  been  the  case  with  us  now  for  a  long  time.  Our 
Protestant  Church  is  a  Government  Institution  which  has  lost 
touch  with  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  When  with  you  a 
preacher  attacks  unrighteous  gains,  the  whole  of  the  community 
which  goes  customarily  to  church  every  Sunday  hears  it.  With 
us  his  sermon  is  heard  by  some  old  women  and  a  couple  of  young 


116  CONSCIENCE  MONEY 

girls  confirmed  the  year  before — certainly  not  people  who  have 
embezzled  money." 

As  to  these  remarks  we  must  note  that  there  are  far  greater 
openings  for  getting  an  advantage  over  the  State  in  England 
than  there  are  on  the  Continent.  The  large  amount  raised  as 
Income  Tax — much  of  it  on  the  unchecked  voluntary  declara- 
tion of  the  payer — is  the  main  source  of  under-taxation ;  and  the 
unfairness  of  the  department  has  produced  a  state  of  public 
feeling  which  leads  persons  to  avoid  payments,  who  would  not 
withhold  them  from  other  departments.  Probate  valuations 
are  another  source  of  under-payments — often  honestly  misstated 
at  first,  and  corrected  afterwards.  And  the  general  lack  of 
official  inspection  of  private  life  in  England,  and  the  liberty 
of  the  individual  prevents  the  espionage  which  would  readily 
intercept  frauds  in  some  other  countries. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  opportunities  of  fraud  are  greater  the 
inducements  to  restitution  are  also  greater.  The  religious  moral 
influence,  noted  by  my  German  friend,  undoubtedly  counts  for 
a  good  deal,  especially  as  such  an  influence  may  lead  to  restitu- 
tion while  merely  transitory.  But  still  more,  perhaps,  the  sense 
of  fair  play  leads  to  honesty  ;  this  fairness  is,  perhaps,  mainly 
due  to  the  youthful  training  in  competitive  games,  in  which 
unfairness  or  oppression  is  reprobated  ;  and  it  is  seen  perhaps 
most  plainly  in  after  life  in  the  conduct  of  the  English  police- 
man, who  is  the  servant  of  the  public,  and  not  the  State  regulator 
like  the  Continental  official.  Another  reason  for  restitutions  is 
strongly  pointed  to  by  the  character  of  the  payments.  The 
postponing  of  sums  under  £5  until  they  amount  to  a  £5  note 
shows  that  much  of  the  payments  are  due  from  chronic  under- 
taxation  which  accumulates.  This  points  to  this  restitution 
not  being  made  for  intentional  fraud,  but  by  perfectly  honest 
people  ;  such  may  know  that  they  are  undertaxed  but  they  prefer 
to  pay  up  voluntarily  rather  than  give  information  to  the  official 
taxgatherer  ;  for  that  would  lead  him  to  worry  and  bully  them 
in  later  years  about  the  same  sources,  and  require  them  to  prove 
a  diminution  of  the  income.  It  is  far  less  inconvenient  to  pay 
up  excess  on  an  under-estimate  than  to  have  to  pull  down  too 
high  an  estimate  afterwards.  More  fair  play  on  the  part  of  the 
taxers  would  lead  to  more  openness  and  honesty  of  the  taxed. 


NOTE  D 

THE   NATURE   OF  THE   KA 

AMONG  the  various  attempts  to  understand  what  the  Egyptians 
described  as  the  Kat  little  notice  seems  to  have  been  taken  of  the 
examples  afforded  us  in  the  Precepts  of  Ptah-hotep.  They  are 
the  more  valuable  as  being  all  of  one  age,  and  by  one  writer, 
so  that  they  must  represent  and  delimit  a  single  conception,  and 
their  date  is  so  early — in  the  Vth  Dynasty — that  they  probably 
show  the  original  idea. 

In  precept  7  the  guest  is  enjoined  not  to  pierce  his  host  at 
table  with  many  glances  ;  "  it  is  an  abomination  to  the  ka  for 
them  to  be  directed  at  him."  Here  the  ka  is  the  consciousness 
or  self-consciousness  of  the  man,  annoyed  by  staring. 

Then  in  precept  10,  "  Diminish  not  the  time  of  following  the 
heart  (enjoying  pleasures),  for  that  is  an  abomination  to  the  ka 
that  its  moment  should  be  disregarded."  The  ka,  therefore, 
is  the  seat  of  the  intention  and  desire  of  enjoyment. 

In  precept  8,  "  The  washing  of  the  heart  shall  not  be  repeated 
(words  said  in  passionate  relief  of  the  feelings),  it  is  an  abomina- 
tion to  the  ka."  Here  the  ka  suffers  the  annoyance  of  another 
person's  ill-temper. 

In  precept  12  a  son  who  is  mentally  like  his  father  is  said  to 
be  "  thy  own  son  to  whom  it  belongeth  that  thy  ka  begat." 
Here  the  ka  comprises  the  mental  qualities  which  were  inherited, 
beyond  the  merely  bodily  form. 

And  the  ka  is  the  seat  of  generosity  and  kindness,  for  in  pre- 
cept 7  "  it  is  the  ka  that  openeth  the  hands  "  of  the  host ;  and 
in  precept  27  is  mentioned  the  "  master  on  whose  ka  depend  thy 
provisions." 

From  all  these  instances  we  can  fairly  delimit  the  ka  as  being 
the  inner  mental  consciousness  and  powers  of  thought,  as  apart 
from  the  influence  of  the  senses  and  the  communication  with 
the  body.  The  Egyptian  argued,  "  If  I  burn  myself  it  hurts 
the  body,  if  I  wash  myself  it  cleanses  the  body,  But  there  is 
something  else  inside  which  can  have  the  analogous  sensations 

117 


118  THE  NATURE  OF  THE  KA 

to  burning  or  to  washing  without  anything  being  done  to  the 
body.  This  must  be  then  an  invisible  being  apart  from  the 
body  ;  and  as  it  has  sensations  and  feelings  of  its  own  it  must  be 
like  the  body."  Hence  a  second  body  of  an  immaterial  kind  was 
postulated  as  the  image  of  the  mind  or  inner  consciousness.  This 
will  perfectly  agree  to  the  theory  of  the  ka  wandering  about  the 
cemetery  after  death  and  needing  sustenance.  And  this  accords 
with  the  powers  and  nature  of  the  ka  as  shown  in  the  tale  of 
Setna,  here  discussed  in  the  second  lecture,  where  we  concluded 
that  "  It  has  then  all  the  full  properties  of  mind,  but  not  the 
abilities  to  act  with  force  upon  matter."  There  is  little,  if  any, 
difference  between  this  and  what  we  define  as  the  soul,  except 
that  it  has  a  bodily — though  immaterial — form. 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by  Jarrold  6-  Sons,  Ltd.,  Norwich. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY — TEL.  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


This   JAN  17  1969  9  5 


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